


To The Moon and Back

by giraffecrack



Series: To the Moon and Back [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Bombs, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Language, Light Smut, Mom if you see this im sorry, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Second Person, Season/Series 07, Sexual Assault, Slow Burn, Spencer is a simp, Spencer's POV, im so sorry, kipnapping, school shooting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:40:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 44,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23390356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giraffecrack/pseuds/giraffecrack
Summary: As you start your career with the BAU, you wonder what lies ahead. Little did you know it’s the best adventure you’ve had.*I do not own any of these characters, nor do I own some of the dialogue.*
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/William LaMontagne Jr., Penelope Garcia/Kevin Lynch, Spencer Reid/Reader
Series: To the Moon and Back [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1707052
Comments: 31
Kudos: 188





	1. See that look in your eye, sucks that I’m not your guy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you use google chrome, there is an extension that replaces 'Y/N' with whatever you want. It doesn't replace 'Y/L/N' though
> 
> Look up 'interactivefic'

You were greeted at the front desk by a rather odd-looking lady. She wore a floral button-up with a pair of khakis, she had meticulously placed glasses on top of her gray hair. You couldn’t help but notice her striking y/e/c eyes, almost like your own.

“Dr. Y/N Y/L/N, for the BAU” you greeted her.

“So you’re the new recruit, you're awful young to be an FBI profiler?” she croaked. You were only 25 but you had been told time and again you had a face that didn’t seem to age.

“You could say that, I guess”

“Floor 6, good luck sweetheart” she scoffed. It couldn’t be that bad, right?

You made your way over to the elevator and hit the button for the sixth floor. The fear that you weren’t qualified hit you like a bus. You knew with all your credentials you could do the job, but just how far would it push you?

*Ding*

The doors slid open revealing the hustle and bustle of the BAU office. Before exiting the elevator you adjusted your blazer and matching dress pants. Once your appearance was acceptable, you picked up your briefcase, exited the elevator, and took a deep breath.

You remember the interview happening in an office on the second floor and the phone call you had received told you to meet with SSA Aaron Hotchner, Monday morning at 8am.

Entering the main room gave you a feeling of ecstasy. You wanted to feel the rush of catching a criminal, handcuffing that bastard, giving the victims the justice they deserved. You noticed the stairs and made your way to them never seen without a smile on your face. As you walked up the stairs you noticed a group of oddly good looking people, who all happened to be staring at you.

Brushing it off you continued up the stairs and the first office you saw belonged to Aaron Hotchner. “How convenient” you scoffed. You knocked.

“Come in” spoke an upbeat gravely voice. Opening the door, you noticed the man sitting at the desk and recognized him as the man who interviewed you.

“Mr. Hotchner, it’s lovely to see you again.”

“ Please, just call me Hotch,” he spoke, still with a smile on his face, “Let's get started shall we, Y/N”

“We shall”

“So we actually have a case to get to so you can get settled here after that,” he said, shuffling his papers. “I’ll introduce you to the team shortly, I’m sure they are going to love you.”

“Thank you Mr. Ho-. Thank you Hotch, is there anything I should know before starting?” You choked out catching yourself on your words.

“You are very qualified to be here, overqualified probably. You are going to do just fine here,” You found his sentiments very reassuring. “Let’s introduce you to the team, shall we?”

As you exited his office you noticed the original group of people staring at you. Instead of turning right to go down the stairs, Hotch steered you to the left and down the platform farther before ushering you into another office. In this office you noticed an older, Italian man sitting at his desk. You took note of the decorations, seemingly very reminiscent of his past.

“Rossi this is Dr. Y/N Y/L/N, Y/N Y/L/N this is SSA David Rossi.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. I’ve read a couple of your books, some more than once I must admit,” you said as you extended your arm for a handshake.

He took your hand in his “The pleasure is all mine. I, too, have read about your work with the bureau in Chicago.”

“Thank you, sir”

“Alright that’s enough you too,” Hotch interrupted. “Let’s meet the rest of the team.”

Exiting Rossi’s office you noticed more stairs leading back into what resembled a bullpen. Hotch led you to the others, who were scrambling to seem busy to distract from their staring (it didn’t work)

“Glad to see you guys are working,” Hotch quipped. “I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of the BAU team, Dr. Y/N Y/L/N.”

The two girls made their way over to you first.

“Jennifer Jareau, but everyone calls me JJ,” the blonde one said with the kindest smile.

“Emily Prentiss, but everyone calls me… well, Prentiss,” the black haired girl responded with another welcoming smile. Truthfully you didn’t think they’d be this welcoming.

“It’s lovely to meet you both” you replied shaking both their hands.

The next to greet you looked like the most perfect specimen of man. “I’m Derek Morgan” spoke the only man to actually rival the gods.

“Do you prefer Derek, or do you have a nickname too?” you quipped. Surprisingly they laughed.

“Just Derek is fine. Do you have a nickname, or would you prefer me to give you one?”

“Surprise me.”

As if you thought the team couldn’t get any better, the next person to introduce themselves was just as handsome as Derek, but you thought he was prettier. Unfortunately, you could feel yourself blushing.

“Hi, I'm Dr. Spencer Reid,” he said, extending one arm for a handshake.

“Dr.?” you said with a smirk, reciprocating his handshake that went on a bit too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!
> 
> This is my first fic, if you have any constructive comments feel free to leave them below!


	2. Baby caress me, I’ve been doin’ all this shit just hoping that you impress me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapters will be written similar to Season 7 Episode 4, "Painless". 
> 
> This chapter has been rewritten @3:44 on April 2nd, 2020.

“Hi, I'm Dr. Spencer Reid,” he said, extending one arm for a handshake.

“Dr.?” you said with a smirk, reciprocating his handshake that went on a bit too long.

“Dr.” he replied still not letting go of the handshake. He seemed to be staring into your soul, all you did was stare back. His eyes were searching yours as if he had lost something in them. His scruffy hair made him seem so innocent.

“But we just call him pretty boy,” Derek said hitting Reid on the back, releasing you both from your trance.

“Ok, pretty boy,” you replied, looking him up and down while messing with your hair. He seemed to shift his foot stance.

“Round table meeting in 5,” Hotch announced right on queue. You noticed JJ walking over toward you with Prentiss at her side, they reminded you of the mean girls from high school.

“There is one more member of the team you should meet,” JJ said as she grabbed your arm and led you out of the hustle and bustle of the bullpen. She took you down a hallway, passing more agents who all seemed to stop and stare at you. Was there something on your face? Just then JJ led you into a room just bigger than a janitor’s closet. Sitting at the desk was another blonde dressed in a very interesting outfit. She reminded you of Ms. Frizzle.

“Penelope,” JJ announced. “This is the newest member of our team, Dr. Y/N Y/L/N.”

“Another Doctor?” Penelope said. “ Do they give away Ph.D.’s like their candy now?” You stood there confused. Was she being mean or was she being sarcastic? Sure, you looked a little young to have a Ph.D. let alone 2, but you worked really hard for them. “I’m just kidding,” she said. “It’s so nice to meet you, I knew Hotch was looking for a new recruit but I didn’t know we would hit the jackpot,” she said pulling you into a hug. “Wait, are you smarter than the Mighty Professor?”

“They haven’t played poker yet,” JJ interrupted. “They did meet though, and I’d say it went well,” She said giving Penelope a wink. “Are you good at poker Y/N?” You had played before and you had won, but this professor sounds awfully good.

“Over spring break one year in college, I accidentally entered into a poker tournament in Vegas. I won $100,000, paid off half my student loans.”

“How do you ‘accidentally’ enter a poker tournament?” JJ asked. To be honest, you didn’t know, so you answered JJ’s questions with a shrug. “We have to get to the round table meeting.”

The three of you walked back into the bullpen and up the stairs, you entered a new room at the end of the platform with a TV screen and a round table.

“Alright let’s get started,” Hotch said, walking in and sitting down. “Garcia.”

“Does anyone remember this picture,” Garcia started.

“Hotch and I were there,” Rossi answered Garcia’s peculiar question. “That’s principal Doug Givens, we had to drag him to safety.”

“High school bombing in Boise, right?” you added.

“School shooter and school bomber,” JJ continued. “A kid named Randy Slade shot 3 students and then set off an I.E.D. in the school cafeteria via cell phone, killing himself and 13 kids total, but not before posting all of his plans online. It was one of those ‘where were you events’. My whole campus was glued to the TV”

Garcia nodded looking at her tablet, “Last night principal Givens was killed by a bomb modeled exactly like the old one.”

“It feels like the unsub wants to attack the man who kept the whole school together after the bombing,” Morgan added. “It’s a pretty symbolic target.”

“And this week is the tenth anniversary of the massacre,” you added

“And today is the first day of a 4-day event to commemorate the bombing at the school,” Garcia continued.

“Except commemorating it isn’t enough for this unsub,” you said.

“No, he wants to relive it,” Hotch said. “Alright wheels up in 30,” As you started walking out you heard your name called and look back to see Hotch cleaning up some papers. “Do you have a go-bag ready?”

“No sir, should I?”

“Yes, head back to your house and get one ready,” He replied. “Here is the address for the airstrip, show them your badge and they’ll let you park there for as long as we’re away.”

“How long will we be away for?”

“Pack for at least 4 days.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Also, Y/N, good job in there today. I think the team is really warming up to you.”

“Thank you.”

As you made your way out of the FBI office, you thought about all the ways your life was about to change. First off you’d have to buy more work clothes, which you were not opposed to Your favorite activity, second only to reading, was shopping. Your drive back to your apartment was boring. The idea of packing was boring. The idea of going to Iowa was frightening.You grew up in the midwest and didn’t want to go back. None the less, you packed up what you needed in terms of toiletries and clothes you were good. For entertainment, you packed a deck of playing cards and your favorite book The Narrative of John Smith. You called a neighbor you know asked them to feed your cat. Throwing your bag in your car you groaned at the thought of not sleeping in you bed for four days. While driving your mind wandered back to the team and you started to rank them in your head. Just as you got to the mysterious Dr. Reid, you pulled into the airfield. You showed the guard your badge and drove to the parking lot. As you got out of the car you put on your sunglasses and grabbed your bag. Then you noticed JJ was walking over toward you. She too had on glasses and were carrying a bag. Once she caught up with you, you both made your way up to the jet that was sitting on the tarmac.

“You guys have a private jet?” you asked seeing the surprise.

“Wait till you see the inside,” JJ responded.

As you too boarded the jet you took a seat at the table next to JJ and across from Prentiss and Dr. Reid. You settled in and noticed that nobody was talking, they were all focused on whatever boring task they chose to do. JJ was playing on her phone, Rossi was staring out the window, Derek was asleep, Hotch was reviewing the case file, and Dr. Reid had brought a book to read, about half an hour into the flight, you guys started to talk about the case

“Perpetrators of school violence are often sophisticated with their weapons.Randy Slade carried his bomb in his backpack. This guy hid his in Givens' clock radio,” Reid noted.

“Yeah, and progressive,” Prentiss added. “Each one tries to top the body  
count of the one previous.”

“And they're loners by default, not by choice,” you said. “They try to join various social  
groups, but they get shut out.”

“Randy Slade wasn't a loner at all,” Hotch said.

“The family cooperated fully with us,” Rossi noted. “He was a high-functioning psychopath, straight-A student, varsity wrestler, lots of girlfriends.”

“With an above-average intelligence that made him incredibly resourceful,” Reid added. “His explosive of choice was Semtex. It's found at demolition sites, but it's held under lock and key.”

“Which made us consider the possibility of a partner,” Rossi continued. “Never found one.”

“Slade was too much of a narcissist to share credit,” Hotch said. “But he was also an impulsive teen, which is what bothers me about this unsub.”

“His sense of control?” you asked.

"And the end game that he's working toward. Slade's pathology revolved around the big kill,” Hotch noted. “This unsub could have done the same if he'd waited for the candlelight vigil.”

“Which means there's no blaze of glory fantasy here,” Rossi added. “This unsub has  
more bombs made, and he's savoring the anticipation of his next attack.”

“You and Reid can go to the crime scene when we land. Rossi and I will set up at the police station. JJ and Rossi, you two will visit a few of the survivors for interviews.” Hotch commanded. Once he finished, everyone returned to what they were doing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the last chapter was so short. I'm not the best at writing so please leave constructive comments to help me improve. Hope you guys are enjoying this.


	3. And I'm just tryna play it cool now But that's not what I wanna do now

**SPENCER’S POV (** **_italics_ ** **represent Spencer’s thoughts)**

That morning was like any other morning. I woke up at 7 am, put on my regular sweater vest and tie. I fixed my scruffy hair and brewed my first cup of coffee. We had gotten back from a case a few days before so it was a given that I needed to bring my go-bag, pre-packed with plenty of ties and sweater vests. As I sat down at my table, I pick up the book I was reading last night. I didn’t get a chance to finish it yet. Just then the clock struck 7:30, I grabbed both my briefcase and duffle bag and headed to the train station. I never liked driving. There was too much risk involved and I never had the chance to learn when I was 16. With my mom in her own world and me away at MIT, it was just easier to take the metro. 

My walk to Union Station was the same as it always was. Boring. I found a way to make it fun though. Counting the number of people with black hair one day, brown the next, and blonde the day after. The ride to Quantico always gave me extra time in the morning to relax. I would just sit on the seat closest to the door with my bags on my lap and a book in hand. When I finally got to Quantico, it felt different. There was something new, but I couldn’t tell you what it was. I got into the elevator and noticed what was different, there was someone new. She had y/h/c hair and carried her self very confidently, but I had never seen her before. Just as the doors closed she started to walk toward the elevator. I could feel her happiness radiating through the entire building, she had a smile that made you feel like everything was going to be alright. She also had the most beautiful y/e/c eyes. The doors closed, cutting me off from a literal ray of sunshine. 

The entire elevator ride she occupied my mind. Her smile, her hair, her eyes. The elevator doors opened and I went right to my cubicle. I set my stuff down and went to grab a cup of coffee then headed back to my desk. Morgan, Prentiss, and JJ were congregating not too far from my desk. After organizing a few papers, I went to join them. Just then, JJ pointed out someone new walking in, we were used to having new people coming and going from the office, but this was a welcome surprise. It was her. The mystery goddess from the lobby. She started walking toward us but made a detour for the stairs and entered into Hotch’s office.

“I wonder what that is about,” JJ asked.

“I don’t know,” Morgan said. “I do remember Hotch saying something about interviews for a new member of the team, but I thought he said he wasn’t going to go through with it.”

 _Dear God, please let her be a new member of the team._ We all sat in anticipation, waiting for Hotch to come and say something to us. We saw them get up and head for the door. My heart was racing. _Can you please shut up._ Hotch and the new girl walked down the hallway to Rossi’s office. I couldn’t help but stare, and she stared back. 

As the minutes passed by we were all still waiting for Hotch to come back and tell us what she was doing here. Finally, she and Hotch left Rossi’s office, she had the biggest smile on her face that showed her perfect teeth. They started to walk down the stairs and head toward the four of us, so we all scrambled to seem busy as to not face the wrath of Hotch.

“Glad to see you guys are working,” Hotch quipped. “I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of the BAU team, Dr. Y/N Y/L/N.” 

_Bless the Lord._ JJ was the first person to go and greet her. 

“Jennifer Jareau, but everyone calls me JJ,” she said with the kindest smile. 

Then Prentiss went up, “Emily Prentiss, but everyone calls me… well, Prentiss,” Y/N seemed surprised at something.

“It’s lovely to meet you both” she replied shaking both their hands. 

The next to greet her was Morgan, “I’m Derek Morgan.” She seemed to be flustered by Morgan’s presence. Of course, she would be attracted to Morgan.

“Do you prefer Derek, or do you have a nickname too?” she quipped. They all laughed at her surprisingly funny joke. 

“Just Derek is fine. Do you have a nickname, or would you prefer me to give you one?”

“Surprise me.”

I was next. _Don’t fuck this up._ “Hi, I'm Dr. Spencer Reid,” I said, extending one arm for a handshake. She looked at me weird. What was she looking for?

“Dr.?” you said with a smirk, reciprocating his handshake that went on a bit too long. 

“Dr,” I replied still not letting go of the handshake. 

_Hold on, what was that? Reid stop staring you look weird._ I couldn’t stop staring. Now that we were closer, I could get a good look at her eyes. They were y/e/c with little flecks of green toward the middle. She smelled fantastic, like roses and lavender. Everything about her was perfect. Her face, her body, and from these first few seconds I’ve known her, her personality. 

“But we just call him pretty boy,” Derek said, hitting me on the back, releasing us both from our trance. 

“Ok, pretty boy,” she replied, looking me up and down while messing with her hair.

“Round table meeting in 5,” Hotch announced right on queue. JJ and Prentiss started to approach her and lead her away and out of the bullpen. She was perfect. The way her hips moved when she walked. The way she smiled seemed to make all the problems in the world go away. The way her hair bounced and flowed on her shoulders. And to think she couldn’t be any better, she was a Dr. Finally someone on the team who could match his intelligence.

“Oh, it looks lit pretty boy has a crush,” Morgan announced.

I turned around in shock, “I do not.”

“Then what’s with the staring,” he whispered. _Was it that noticeable?_

Finally, it was time for the roundtable meeting, “Alright let’s get started,” Hotch said, walking in and sitting down. “Garcia.”

“Does anyone remember this picture,” Garcia started.

“Hotch and I were there,” Rossi answered Garcia’s peculiar question. “That’s principal Doug Givens, we had to drag him to safety.”

“High school bombing in Boise, right?” she added. The way her lips moved with every beautiful word she spoke, she was a goddess incarnate.

“School shooter and school bomber,” JJ continued. “A kid named Randy Slade shot 3 students and then set off an I.E.D. in the school cafeteria via cell phone, killing himself and 13 kids total, but not before posting all of his plans online. It was one of those ‘where were you events’. My whole campus was glued to the TV”

Garcia nodded looking at her tablet, “Last night principal Givens was killed by a bomb modeled exactly like the old one.”

“It feels like the unsub wants to attack the man who kept the whole school together after the bombing,” Morgan added. “It’s a pretty symbolic target.”

“And this week is the tenth anniversary of the massacre,” she added

“And today is the first day of a 4-day event to commemorate the bombing at the school,” Garcia continued.

“Except commemorating it isn’t enough for this unsub,” she said.

“No, he wants to relive it,” Hotch said. “Alright wheels up in 30.” As we all left the room she was called to stay back, but a few moments later she left. She left the BAU, where was she going? Did she get fired already? No, that couldn’t be the case

I walked back to the room to find Hotch, “Where is Y/N going?” 

“She’s going home to pack, shell meet us at the airfield.” And with that, all your worries went away. She wasn’t leaving, she was just packing. 

The rest of the morning went like normal. I had my third cup of coffee, grabbed my bags, and headed for the airfield. I arrived a few minutes early so I could get a good seat on the plane. I ended up sitting at the table for four with the window seat. As I got settled, I noticed she and JJ walking toward the plane at the same time. They were almost indistinguishable. Prentiss came and sat next to me, and to my surprise, Y/N sat across from me with JJ right next to her. We sat on the plane for half an hour before starting to talk about the case. I was able to read about 1200 pages in that time. 

“Perpetrators of school violence are often sophisticated with their weapons. Randy Slade carried his bomb in his backpack. This guy hid his in Givens' clock radio,” I noted. 

“Yeah, and progressive,” Prentiss added. “Each one tries to top the body

count of the one previous.”

“And they're loners by default, not by choice,” she said. “They try to join various social

groups, but they get shut out.”

“Randy Slade wasn't a loner at all,” Hotch said.

“The family cooperated fully with us,” Rossi noted. “He was a high-functioning psychopath, straight-A student, varsity wrestler, lots of girlfriends.”

“With an above-average intelligence that made him incredibly resourceful,” I added. “His explosive of choice was Semtex. It's found at demolition sites, but it's held under lock and key.”

“Which made us consider the possibility of a partner,” Rossi continued. “Never found one.”

“Slade was too much of a narcissist to share credit,” Hotch said. “But he was also an impulsive teen, which is what bothers me about this unsub.”

“His sense of control?” she asked.

“And the end game that he's working toward. Slade's pathology revolved around the big kill,” Hotch noted. “This unsub could have done the same if he'd waited for the candlelight vigil.”

“Which means there's no blaze of glory fantasy here,” Rossi added. “This unsub has

more bombs made, and he's savoring the anticipation of his next attack.”

“You and Reid can go to the crime scene when we land. Rossi and I will set up at the police station. JJ and Rossi, you two will visit a few of the survivors for interviews.” Hotch commanded. Once he finished, everyone returned to what they were doing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this chapter from Spencer's POV.
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed it.
> 
> I will accept suggestions and constructive criticism.


	4. Don't follow me, you'll end up in my arms You have made up your mind I don't need no more signs

As you landed in Iowa, You headed to the hotel to get checked in. Luckily you all had our own rooms so you wouldn’t be caught in awkward situations. You had just met the team today, you’d figured that it was best if you didn’t have to stay in a room with anyone. You were kind of upset though because that meant you couldn’t share a room with a certain someone. 

Reid and I walked out of the hotel to one of the black SUVs. “Do you want to drive?” he asked. 

“Sure,” you said, cheerfully. He tossed you the keys and you hopped in the car. “Buckle up,” You're a good driver. You had never been pulled over or been in an accident. We arrived at the Principal’s house promptly. Living in Chicago you had seen plenty of violence and blood, but this was different. His blood was all over the walls and parts of his body were scattered about the room. There was broken glass and dust all over the floor.

“So the unsub has to be tied to the school somehow, right?” you noted. “Current student, alumni, a family member who lost someone?”

“It could be Slade groupie celebrating his hero,” Reid stated, looking around the room for more evidence. He was really cute when he was all technical like that,“He taped nails to the exterior of the bomb, specifically to rip open flesh. That's a sadistic detail of Slade's the unsub copied.”

“Except he tricked Givens into blowing himself up. A groupie probably wouldn't show that much self-control.”

“But someone with an ax to grind against the principal would. Maybe he's a surrogate for the tormentors in high school he can't punish. Who were yours?”

“I don't even remember.”

“You don't even remember?” Reid repeated back to me. “Wait, were you one of the mean girls?”

 _Was that all he thought of me?_ “No.,” you said, with a little laugh.

“What were you like in high school?”

“Um, I was the valedictorian, played tennis and was captain of the soccer team. And I graduated at 16” you replied.

“And you were still a size zero?” Reid said, with conviction. “I think you might have been one of the mean girls.”

“I was one of the nice girls, even to guys like you.”

“What do you mean guys like me?” he asked with a smile on his face. “I’ll have you know my social standing increased when I started playing basketball.” 

“Oh yeah, you played basketball?”

“I didn’t play, I coached,” a sly smile crept across his face. “I broke down the other team’s shooting strategy.”

We heard a voice calling from outside, “Agent.”

“It’s Doctor,” you and Reid said in unison without even looking up from our work. 

“They just found the body of Chelsea Grant in her hotel room,” the detective sighed.

Reid looked at me with a puzzled look on his face, “That was one of the survivors, right?”

“We should head over there,” you urged.

“I can text you the address,” the detective hissed, looking you up and down. “I just need your number, sweetheart.” _Men are pigs._

You walked over to him, put a hand on his arm and dug your nails into his skin, “Or you could just tell me.”

“The Hilton Hotel, on Main Street,” he spat, you let go and walked out the door with Reid at your heels. “Fucking slut.”

You turned around, ready to beat a bitch up, “he isn’t worth it, Y/N,” Reid cautioned, putting himself between you and the detective.

“Today is your lucky day, Detective,” you threatened before walking out the door and getting in the car. “Men are pigs, Reid.”

“I know, Y/N,” he said in the most calming voice imaginable. Your driving from then on was a tad erratic. As you pulled into the hotel you noticed a large police presence and a bomb squad. You and Reid walked up the stairs to Chelsea’s room in complete silence. 

“I'm going to call Hotch,” you announced, Reid just nodded.

“You’re on speaker, Y/N,” Hotch’s voice came through the phone.

“So we might have another one,” you said into the phone while scanning the room.

“Might?”

“One of the North Valley alumni was killed in her motel room,” you responded. “No bomb or gun this time. Looks like he used his bare hands.”

“Do we have a name?” 

Reid was across the room looking for anything that could give us a better idea of what was happening, “Chelsea Grant.”

“She’s on the list,” you could hear Prentiss say over the phone.

“Alright stay there you two,” Hotch said. “I’ll be over in a minute.” And with that Hotch hang-up. You and Reid waited for about twenty minutes before Hotch entered Chelsea’s hotel room.

“The unsub crushed Chelsea's throat so she couldn't scream,” Reid told Hotch, walking over to where you were standing “then he pulverized her ribs, sending fragments of bone into her heart.”

You were all on edge now. The unsub deviated from what you thought his plan was, “Principal Givens was high-profile, Chelsea wasn’t.”

“Right now the only thing connecting them is that they’re on that list,” Hotch added

“A list that Brandon kept secret for 10 years.” you pointed out.

Reid looked at you as you spoke and looked like he was in a trance “But he was in custody when this happened. The question is how did the unsub get his hands the exact same list.”

“We ruled out a partner, but not conclusively,” Hotch looked puzzled, there was definitely something bothering him.

“Slade made every part of his plan public,” you added. “It doesn't make sense that he would hide a partner.”

“He didn't want to share the credit,” Hotch finished, “And this weekend is the partner's best chance to claim it. Let’s head back to the station to deliver the profile.” And with that, you three shuffled out of the room. As you left, Reid held the police tape up for you, and you gave him a smile. 

Hotch took his own SUV while you and Reid took yours, “Are you sure you don’t want to drive,” you asked.

“One hundred percent,” Reid said. “You’re doing a pretty good job.”

“Whatever you say, pretty boy,” you teased him a bit, and he looked away. When he turned back he was blushing a little bit. You promptly pulled into the police department parking lot. You walked in and Reid held the door for you. _He’s just being nice._

“We’re re going to give the profile now,” Hotch said, knocking on the door of the conference room. 

“Ok, I’ll be out in a minute,” you were organizing some papers to get ready for later. You head out to the main room when you were done. 

“Partners of dominant psychopaths are usually submissive, but that doesn't mean that they can't be intelligent or that they're physically weak,” Hotch started. 

“This unsub laid low after the bombing,” you continued, “and successfully evaded police and FBI.”

Reid took the next turn to speak, “That took cunning and patience, which he's exhibiting now

with his current murders.”

“We think he fits the loner profile Slade debunked,” Morgan added. 

“He grew up in an abusive home,” JJ stepped forward and spoke, “which kept him from forming the normal social bonds in high school.”

One of the police officers raised their hand and spoke, “We interviewed all the outcasts from back then. How did this guy slip through?”

“Even outcasts eventually form friendships. But this unsub was the outcast the outcasts rejected,” Reid spoke up, answering his question. “He won't stand out in any capacity, and as a matter of fact, most of his fellow students probably won't even remember graduating with him.” He talked with his hands a lot. It was kinda cute.

“And that invisibility is what made him attractive to Slade,” Morgan continued. “This partner wouldn't steal the spotlight.”

Slade turned to the cafeteria because most of the names on his list ate there together during fifth period,” Rossi added. “So his hatred festered when the names on the list emerged from the cafeteria as media heroes.”

You continued to add what you could to the profile briefing, “And now he wants to finish

the job that Randy started. Emotionally, this weekend is more a high school reunion to him than a memorial.”

“We go to reunions to show who we grew up to be,” Reid spoke again. “Often that means changing everything about who we were.”

“Consciously or not, Randy Slade revealed clues as to his partner's identity when he detonated his bomb,” Hotch finished. “Agent Prentiss will be conducting cognitive interviews to see what the survivors might remember. That’s all, thank you” The cops all stood up and walked their respective ways. Hotch started to walk to the conference room and you all followed, excluding Rossi and Morgan, they stayed behind to talk to a few cops who had questions. Reid called Garcia and you four sat down at the table.

“So, as you can see from your board there, this kill list is weirdly similar to high school,” Garcia babbled through the phone. “Group one is like the popular kids--prom court, football team, Dean's list. The Heathers, if you will.”

“Kids in Slade's social circle.” Hotch interrupted

“What about number two?” you asked.

“Uh, mm-hmm, that would be the kids from the other side of the tracks,” Garcia continued. “180-degree difference, kids this close to getting kicked out--stoners, burnouts, mental cases. Chelsea Grant is on this list.

“Maybe Slade targeted them because they disgusted him?” JJ spoke up

Hotch helped to answer her question, “But they didn't threaten Slade's sense of superiority. He wouldn't have even cared about them.”

“All right, well, maybe the partner put them on the list,” you noted. “They'd be closer to his social status than Slade's.”

“Why would the--” Reid said as he reached into his back pocket for his ringing cell-phone. “I'm so sorry,” he hung up the call. “Why would the unsub list kids that he fit in with?”

“Apparently that's how this clique worked. The kids in it were meaner to each other than kids on the outside,” Hotch answered. “Garcia, separate out all the kids who got into trouble regularly. Then eliminate the names that the partner put on the list. Now, who's left that came to the memorial?”

“Right. Whoever made the list wouldn't put their name on it,” Garcia said.Uh… Sir, I think--

I think I've got him, I can track his cell phone.”

“I need a name Garcia,” Hotch pushed. 

“Lewis Ramsey, he’s at the local bar, 712 main street,” Garcia reported. 

“Ok, I’ll call Morgan and get him there with some officers,” Hotch said getting up to leave.

  
  


“You buy it?” you asked after Hotch and Morgan had interviewed Ramsey. It was just you, Reid, and Hotch in the conference room for now.

“He fits the profile, and the evidence points to him, but he seems sincere,” Hotch said.

“He's not the unsub,” Reid added. “He was the partner, but look at how Slade added

‘all the LoSeRs in this Godforsaken school.’ This capitalization isn't an accident. Look. L-S-R--

Lewis Stuart Ramsey.”

“So Slade named his own partner,” you asked.

“Ironically, Lewis' marijuana conviction saved his life,” Reid added.

“Well, that puts us back to our original problem,” you continued “If the unsub isn't the partner, how did he get his hands on a list that Slade and Lewis kept to themselves?”

“The only answer is that part of the profile is wrong,” Hotch said. “The unsub's vendetta has nothing to do with the list. Alright, you two can be done for the night. Take an SUV to the hotel.” You did as Hotch said and walked outside to the SUV. 

You got to drive again. You still could not actually figure out what was going on inside the impressive Dr. Reid’s mind. You pulled into the parking lot for your hotel and both went your separate ways. You got to your room, scanned your key, and plopped onto your bed, letting out a heavy sigh. You chose to take a shower and once you were done you had an idea. You got dressed in your pajamas, a tank top and shorts, and put your hair up. You walked down the hall and knocked on room number 413. 

Dr. Reid opened the door and looked at you puzzled, “What are you doing here?” he asked, he was still dressed in his work clothes.

“Well, are you going to let me in.” He stepped out of your way and you walked in. His room ad the exact same layout as yours did. You walked to the bed and sat down smoothing out the sheets. 

“Are you going to tell me why you’re here?” 

“What type of doctor are you?”

He looked at you completely confused, but came and sat next to you on the bed, “I have three PhDs in math, chemistry, and engineering. I have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and I can read 20,000 words per minute.”

“Wow, now you’re making me look stupid,” you pointed out and he laughed. Then your phone rang, “It’s Hotch.” Reid motioned for you to answer, “Hey Hotch. You’re on speaker.”

“Y/N, we found another one of the survivors dead,” Hotch said over the phone. “Can you get Reid and come to the high school,” 

“Hey Hotch,” Reid spoke up into the phone.

“You both read the fraternization policy, right?” Hotch asked.

“Yes sir, we’re not fraternizing, just talking,” you added.

“Alright, can you two come to the high school?”

“On our way,” Reid said. You hung up the phone and sighed. “Do you want to change really quick?” he asked. 

You looked down at your clothes, “Yeah I guess, I’ll meet you at the car.” You left his room and walked back to your room only two doors down. You quickly changed back into your pants suit and left your room. As you turned the corner to head to the elevator, you saw Dr. Reid standing right by your door. 

“I figured you wouldn’t take long,” he commented. You nodded and headed to the elevator walking a bit past him so he did a little jog to catch up to you. You walked into the elevator and hit the first button. 

Reid turned to talk to you, "Did you know that the earliest known reference to an elevator is in the works of the Roman architect Vitruvius, who reported that Archimedes built his first elevator probably in 236 BC. Some sources from later historical periods mention elevators as cabs on a hemp rope powered by hand or by animals. In 1000, the Book of Secrets by al-Muradi in Islamic Spain described the use of an elevator-like lifting device, in order to raise a large battering ram to destroy a fortress. In the 17th century, the prototypes of elevators were located in the palace buildings of England and France. Louis XV of France had a so-called 'flying chair' built for one of his mistresses at the Chateau de Versailles in 1743. Ancient and medieval elevators used drive systems based on hoists or windlasses. The invention of a system based on the screw drive was perhaps the most important step in elevator technology since ancient times, leading to the creation of modern passenger elevators. The first screw drive elevator was built by Ivan Kulibin and installed in the Winter Palace in 1793, although there may have been an earlier design by Leonardo da Vinci. Years later another of Kulibin's elevators was installed in the Arkhangelskoye near Moscow."

"What are some of your hobbies, Dr. Reid?" 

"I read a lot, I know how to knit, and I like to practice magic."

"Can you show me a magic trick?"

"I don't have my cards on me," He said, smiling, "but ask me again later and I may have them." The door to the elevator opened and you both exited. Hopping in the car, you looked at Reid and smiled. You started the car and drove off. The drive to the high school was about 20 minutes, but you sometimes drive a little over the speed limit so it only took 15. You got out of the car and walked into the school, the same detective that catcalled you was waiting outside to escort you to the crime scene, "Well, it's good to see you again," he hissed. 

"I wish I could say the same for you," you quipped.

"Come on, pretty mama," he pleaded. "Just let me love you the way you deserve, better than this dweeb could treat you."

Reid looked at you offended, "he treats me very well, for your information." You put your arm around his waist and pulled him closer to you.

The detective scoffed and opened the door for the two of you. As you walked through the hallways, following the creep, you looked at spencer and shrugged when he tried to ask you what that was. Finally, the crime scene came into view. 

"I'll see you later baby," the detective said and slapped your ass. Yout turned around to hit him but Spencer, Hotch, and Morgan stepped between you and the detective, Spencer escorted you away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I was having a bit of writer's block.  
> Feel free to leave comments, kudos, and ideas for more chapters.


	5. Sorry I didn't kiss you But it's obvious I wanted to

“Hey, hey calm down,” Spencer cooed.

“How am I supposed to calm down, Reid,” you snapped. You saw Hotch walking over to the two of you.

“Y/N, what happened?” Hotch asked with the same stoic face he always had.

“When we were at the principal's house he called her a-,” Reid looked around and lowered his voice so no one around could hear, “a fucking slut.”

“And now he slapped my ass,” you added. Hotch looked at Reid as if to tell him to scram, but Reid just looked at him pleading to let him stay. 

“Reid,” Hotch firmly said. Reid nodded and left to go examine the crime scene with JJ and Prentiss.

“Hotch, I feel so belittled,” you admitted, nothing like that has ever happened to you before. You had been catcalled, but never groped.

“I’m going to go and talk to him and his supervisor,” He replied, hoping to make things better. “Do you want anyone to come and sit with you?”

“Can I just go back to the hotel?”

“Sure, I'll see you tomorrow morning,” He said remorsefully. You turned to walk away and head back the way you came, “And Y/N, you’re doing just fine here, there is no need to worry.” you flashed him a smile and continued on your way.

It felt nice to have received that praise, especially from your supervisor. As you exited the school, you felt the cool summer breeze flow through you. It ran through your hair and your clothes, it ran along your skin and made you shiver. It was nights like these that made you wish you were in high school again. Not having a single care in the world, driving through the night with your best friends, and blasting Stacy’s Mom through the speakers of your 2001 Toyota corolla. 

The sky was clear and you could see all the stars. It reminded you of when you and your dad would sit on the bed of his truck and watch the stars. He always told you that if you were ever lost or confused, you could look up at the stars and they would tell you exactly where you were meant to be. The stars were the only thing keeping you connected to your father while you were traveling since you couldn’t visit his grave. His spirit was always in the stars though. The drive back to the hotel was boring, but you had connected your phone to the Bluetooth so you played Stacy’s Mom and opened the window. You got to your hotel room, took off your clothes and took a second shower making sure to scrub really well to get the filth of that detective out of your head. You got out of the shower and got dressed into your pajamas, turned the light off, and turned the TV on. It was so late you could watch the George Lopez show on Nickelodeon. You were half asleep when you heard a knock on your door. You dragged yourself out of bed and looked through the peephole, to see Dr. Spencer Reid standing at your door. You groaned at the thought of having anyone see you in this state, let alone Spencer. 

You opened the door and headed back to your bed, “Come on in, Dr. Reid.”

“Sorry di- did I wake you up?” He asked, partly trembling.

“No, I’ve been up for a while,” you yawned while muting the TV.

“Oh, I just wanted to come and check in on you.”

“I’m fine, Reid, really.” 

He just stood there looking at you like you were some helpless victim, “Can you not look at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m some sort of victim,” you sighed.

“I’m sorry, I’ll stop,” he looked at the ground with remorse.

“Thank you,” you cuddled into your pillow and started to drift off to sleep. You didn’t want to fall asleep but you couldn’t help it.

**Spencer’s POV**

“Thank you,” she yawned. She cuddled into her pillow and it seemed like she was starting to fall asleep, I went to go sit in the chair in the corner. There was a blanket on the back of the chair, I grabbed it and put it on her sleeping body. There was no way I could leave her like that. I had no way to lock her door from the outside, and god knows what that detective will do if he gets in trouble with his supervisor. I accidentally fell asleep in the chair I was sitting in. A few hours later, someone was talking. 

“Spencer, be careful,” The voice cried. I knew that voice. I opened my eyes to see Y/N squirming in her sleep. She looked helpless and scared.

“It’s ok, Y/N,” I calmly said, “I’m ok.” She seemed to stop squirming and settle down.

I tried to go back to sleep but thoughts of her swirled in my mind. She was dreaming about me. She cared about me, enough to yell for me and tell me to be careful.  _ Reid, you’re crazy. You’re not a psychoanalyst. You don’t believe in dream theory. _ But this you couldn’t deny. She was calling for you. Finally, sleep caught up with me. My dreams were filled with thoughts of her.

**Your POV**

Your alarm woke you up with its heinous voice. You snuggled into the blanket that you’d never seen before. You looked around the room for any explanation for the new blanket on you. In the corner, you saw Spencer sleeping on the chair.

“Oh my god,” you whispered. You silently got out of bed, grabbed your blue pants, white shirt, and pink blazer, headed for the bathroom to change. You put your hair into a high ponytail and pulled out a few pieces of hair to frame your face. Your makeup was basic, nude sparkly eyeshadow, mascara, blush, and nude lipstick. When you exited the bathroom Reid was still asleep in the chair.

“Reid, it’s 6:30,” you whispered softly, while gently shaking him awake, “we have to meet Hotch at 7.” He started to open his eyes, he looked so sweet. His hair was a mess, and he was still wearing his clothes from yesterday, “Did you sleep well, pretty boy?”

“I did actually,” he said sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “You talk in your sleep, you know that?”

“I hope I didn’t say anything too embarrassing,” you chuckled. “You didn’t have to sleep in the chair, you could have slept in the bed.”

“I was quite comfortable actually.”

“That’s a lie, I’m going down to get breakfast. Go get changed.”

“Alright, enjoy your breakfast.” You grabbed your wallet, phone, badge, and gun and left.

**Spencer’s POV**

She walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving me with my thoughts. I had a job to do though and that started with getting ready and getting to the station on time. I left her room to see Morgan walking from his room to the elevator.

“Pretty boy,” he said, noticing the room you were walking out of, “busy night last night?”

“I don’t want to hear it, Morgan,” I sighed.

“I’m just saying,” he smirked, “she seems to like you.” He held his coffee cup as if to say cheers and walked away.

I turned away from the elevator and headed back to my room. I got changed, freshened up, and messed up my hair. Staring at myself in the mirror for a second I heard my phone ringing, I went to find it laying on the bed. I checked to see who was calling and it was another number I didn't recognize. “Hello?”

“Hello, I'm Vanessa Scartop with KCCI 8 news, I’m looking for a Dr. Spencer Reid,” charmed the voice on the other line.

“This is he,” I replied

“Good morning Dr. Reid, I was told I could direct any questions about the recent bombing to you.”

“No, ma’am, I think you're mistaken, have a good day,” I hung up the phone, why would she call me? I checked the time to see that it was 6:50, we had to meet Hotch at the station at 7. I ran out of the room grabbing my bag and coat on the way out. I ran to the elevator and rapidly hit the button for the first floor. I ran out of the hotel to see Y/N leaning on the hood of an SUV.

She looked up at me and smiled, “Jeez, what took you so long?”

“You could say I was a little distracted,” I struggled to say, I don’t run very often.\

“Hop in, we have to be at the station in… 9 minutes,” she walked over to the driver’s side door.

“Are we gonna make it on time?”

“Of course we are, buckle up.” She was so pretty with her sunglasses on, they framed her face perfectly. 

My phone rang again snapping me out of my trance, “Hello?”

“Hi, is this Dr. Spencer Reid?” another woman spoke on the line.

“This is he,” I sighed, not again.

“Good Morning Dr. Reid, this is Amanda Gino with Channel 13 news, Would you mind if I could ask you a couple questions about the recent bombing at the house of Principal Givens?”   
“I actually would mind very much, thank you for calling,” I hung up and sighed.

“What was that?” Y/N asked.

“I don't know, actually,” I replied. “I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls from news stations recently.”

“Weird,” she smiled. “We’re here by the way,” she said while we were pulling into the parking lot. 

“6:58, that was supposed to be a ten-minute drive,” I chuckled.

“We’re going to be late Dr.” she smiled jumping out of the car and started to walk toward the door so I followed her lead.

We got to the conference room at exactly 7:01, Hotch didn’t say anything and Morgan just chuckled. There was a coffee station set up at the back of the room for us, I grabbed my first cup for the day and my phone rang again, I hung up immediately this time and went back to the table. Hotch got up and started talking about the case and what we had so far. He sent JJ and Prentiss to look through some yearbooks. “Reid, yesterday you mentioned something about the unsub couldn’t feel pain,”

I got up and started doing what I do best, talking, “There is a medical condition called pain asymbolia, where patients register harmful stimuli without being bothered by it. They have been documented holding their hand over an open flame because their brain doesn’t send pain signals to the central nervous system.” 

“Sounds pretty rare,” Rossi chimed in. “Are you sure the unsub has it?”

“The crimes prove it, this unsub displayed an unusual level of savagery toward his victims. And consider this, he smashed through a glass display case but there were no cuts on Jerry. That means he most likely punched through it, probably as a show of force. The only way the human body can withstand that level of pain is if he couldn’t feel it at all,” I continued.

“That must really stunt someone’s emotional development,” Rossi said. My phone started ringing again and I hung up.

“A big contributor to our sense of empathy is the way we process physical pain,” Morgan continued. My phone rang again.

“And the unsub didn’t develop his sense of empathy because it was cut off,” Hotch added, my phone ringing again. “Does every person with asymbolia experience this?” 

“Actually most people experience empathy just fine, which makes me think the rest of our profile is accurate. Loner, invisible,” my phone rang again, “outcast, son of a bitch!” I answered the call, just to make it stop, “Hi, this is Dr. Reid. I actually can come to the phone right now with a very important message that your mother is a d-

“Reid!” Hotch said sternly

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” I looked over as Y/N was trying to hold back laughter.

“I’m going to have Garcia look over medical records,” Hotch continued, I tried to stay focused on him. “What causes asymbolia?” 

I looked over to see Morgan snickering, “Severe trauma produces lesions in the insular cortex, usually after a stroke, but this unsub is so young it was mostly caused by an external factor.”  _ Morgan, what did you do? _

“Like a bomb going off next to him?” Rossi asked.

“Like a bomb going off next to him,” I repeated looking at Morgan, who was still snickering.

Hotch left the table so we started to clean up some of the papers, “I will crush you,” I whispered to Morgan.

“What?” Morgan replied.

“What?” I said, playing dumb. I looked over to see Y/N, she was laughing to herself. She had the prettiest smile.

She was a ray of sunshine. She smelled like roses, her voice flows through your ears like syrup. Her hair falls perfectly off her shoulders, but today, her ponytail swayed perfectly with every step she took.  _ Focus Reid. _

**Your POV**

After the meeting, you were still laughing at the thought of Spencer swearing. You may have only known him for two days but he had seemed so innocent when you first met. By now he and Rossi had left, leaving you and Morgan.

Morgan started to walk over to you and you sat up straight, “What do you think of the team so far?”

“You all seem really nice,” you said with a smile.

“How do you feel about Dr.Reid?”

“I mean, I’ve only known him for two days but he seems really sweet,”

“Ok,” he said. “Just sweet?”   
“Derek Morgan if you are asking if I have a crush on Dr. Spencer Reid,” you quipped, “then I’m sorry to say but that information is classified.”

“I thought you’d say that,” he sighed, standing up and heading for the door, “I’ll see you later.”

“See ya,” you waved him goodbye.

For the rest of the morning, you sat and looked at the files again, trying to stay focused on the and not the only thought running through your mind, that you did indeed have a crush on Dr. Spencer Reid, but he didn’t need to know that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kinda fun. 
> 
> Please leave some constructive comments, but I wanted to say thank you for all the hits and kudos. This is just a little project I started for quarantine, but I'm having so much fun. I'm hoping to have 30 chapters by the end of April.
> 
> Also if you are looking for a good cry watch "Criminal Minds|| I've got you brother" by LaurenMichelle on youtube


	6. Fire spreading all around my room My world's so bright It's hard to breathe but that's alright

You had left your phone on the conference room table while you looked through the files. It started ringing unexpectedly. It was Garcia. 

“Hey Garcia,” you eagerly greeted her, you hadn’t spoken to any of the team for about 6 hours. They were all out doing FBI things.

“How much do you love me?” she asked

Confused, you answered the peculiar question, “I love you very much, Garcia.”  
“What would you say if I told you I had the name of the unsub?”

“Wait, you figured it out?” you jumped out of your chair with excitement.

“Sure did,” she giggled, “I believe your unsub is one Robert Adams.”

“Do you have a location, Garcia?”

“His credit card just made a purchase at the Seven Stars Restaurant,”

“Thank you, Garcia,” you said as you ran out the door. “Wait, why did you call me?”

“No one else was picking up,” she replied. “Good luck, be safe,” she hung up after that. The team left one SUV for you just in case you needed to go anywhere. You hopped in and started for the restaurant. You tried to call Hotch, but he wouldn’t respond. 

Then you tried Rossi, and thankfully he responded, “Rossi, where are you right now?” you asked frantically

“We’re at the school. Why? What’s wrong?” he could hear how scared you were on the other end of the line.

“Garcia called me and told me that she has the unsub’s identity,” you breathed out, trying to drive at the same time.

“Y/N, I’m going to put you on speaker,” he added. “Alright, you have me, Hotch, Morgan, and Reid.”

“Garcia, she called me and said that the name of the unsub was Robert Adams and that he was at the Seven Stars restaurant, I’m pulling into the restaurant now,” you got out of the car and headed toward the entrance.

“Alright, Y/N, do not engage wait outside we’ll be there in five minutes,” Hotch sounded scared

“Alright. Is there anyt-,” you started but you were knocked out by an explosion from the restaurant.

“Y/N, hold we’ll be there soon,” Hotch calmly said, but you couldn’t respond.

You were knocked unconscious by the blast, you finally awoke to sirens and people surrounding you. You could see all the team members around you.

Everyone stayed by your side for a few moments until Morgan received some news, “Hotch he’s still in there.”

“Ok. Prentiss, come with Morgan and me to catch the unsub,” Hotch started. “Rossi, take Y/N to the ambulance.” 

Rossi helped you to stand up while you were holding your head. He led you over to an ambulance, “Rossi, I’m fine, really.”

“I’m sure you are,” he said, “but you may have a concussion.” The paramedic checked your vitals and performed a concussion test. You passed, so a hospital visit wasn’t necessary. 

While the paramedic was checking your health he was also checking you out, “Alright Ms. Y/L/N, your vitals are good and you don’t seem to have a concussion,” the paramedic briefed. “Make sure that you visit your primary care physician. Also, do you think I would be able to get your number?”

He wasn’t bad looking, he seemed nice, “Sure,” you smiled. You looked past some of the cops at the restaurant and saw Reid looking your way. It seemed like he was giving the paramedic a death stare. You got up off the ambulance and hobbled over to the rest of your team. Prentiss and Hotch had apprehended the unsub, and they loaded him into a police car.

“What did the paramedic say?” Hotch asked. 

“He said I’m good to go,” you responded happily. 

Reid looked upset from where you were standing, “seemed like he said more than that,” Reid mumbled. 

“Alright, go pack up your guys’ stuff and meet me at the airfield in 30,” Hotch continued. You all went to the SUVs. You decided to ride in the back with Rossi driving and Prentiss in the passenger seat. The three of you promptly arrived at the hotel just behind JJ, Morgan, and Reid. Rossi came to help you out of the car, which was quite sweet, but you didn’t need it.

You got to your room and started to pack. Starting with the bathroom then going to the main room, double-checking that you had everything. As you were cleaning up, you made the bed and straightened out the pillows.

Just then your phone rang, “Hello?” you answered.

“Hi, this is Jeremy. I was the paramedic that treated you tonight,” he said gingerly.

“Oh hey, how’s it going?” you giggled while grabbing your bags and heading toward the door.

“We had to take a few people to the hospital, but other than that pretty good,” he commented.

You left your room and started to close the door, “So, a pretty slow night?” you joked. In the hallway, you saw Morgan and Reid waiting and staring at you. “Hey, Jeremy. I’m going to have to call you later, ok?”

“That’s cool,” he sighed. “It was nice to meet you, Y/N. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” you finished and hung up the phone.

“Who’s Jeremy?” Morgan asked, poking you in the side.

“That’s classified, Agent Morgan,” you replied with a smile. “Who’s driving?” you asked, trying to change the subject.

“I’ll drive,” Morgan replied as the three of you got in the elevator.

The drive to the airfield was quiet. You were sitting in the back seat staring out the window, when you did look through the windshield, you could see Reid look at you occasionally. Finally, you got to the plane. You chose a seat at the back, put your headphones in, and pulled out a book. The volume of your music was low just in case anyone needed you. You looked up to see Morgan with a confused look on his face, then he took off his headphones and you could hear screaming coming through them. “Very funny, kid,” he quipped at who you could only suspect was Reid. His phone started to ring and he picked it up, “Hey baby gir-,” he quickly pulled the phone away from his face, more screaming.

You gave up trying to figure out what that was about and went to sleep. When you woke up, you were starting to land. Hotch stood up once the plane landed and told all of you to be in the office at 9 tomorrow. You grabbed your bag and got off the plane, rushing to get to your car and get home and see your cat. The second you got to your car, an immense wave of relief came over you, your first case with the team was done. You had done pretty well. One thing you were less than pleased about was the way you felt toward Spencer. Could you really not fraternize with your co-workers? _It’s not that hard, Y/N. Get it together._ You got to your house and plopped down on your bed. Checking the time, you groaned. It was 3am. You dragged yourself out of bed to take a shower, you ended up falling asleep wearing only your towel.

You woke up to your alarm at 8 and sighed. Realizing you slept, in a towel, you went to your closet to grab some semi-professional clothes. You put on as much makeup as you could stand, which wasn’t much, and headed to the kitchen for coffee. Checking the clock on your oven, it was 8:30, so you didn’t get to eat breakfast and settled for stopping at Starbucks for another coffee. You were able to arrive at Quantico at exactly 8:50 leaving you just enough time to get up to your desk at 9.

Walking into the office was a nightmare, everyone at their desks seemed so tired. Walking past Reid’s desk, you noticed that he was working away, he didn’t seem tired at all, “How are you so chipper right now?” you asked, sitting down at your desk.

“This is my fifth cup of coffee,” he smiled at you with that lovely smile of his.

Garcia was walking past his desk right as he answered you, “Alright, Dr. Reid, I’m cutting you off for now,” Garcia insisted grabbing the coffee cup from his hand. He looked up at her and frowned.

“Thank you, Garcia,” Morgan added from his desk. “If he would have finished that, I don’t think he would shut up for hours.”

You giggled from your desk, trying not to pass out. 

“We have a new case,” Hotch walked out of his office toward the round table room. Everyone groaned as they pulled themselves up from their seats. You all hobbled over to the roundtable room, Reid was practically skipping in front of all of you. “Go ahead Garcia,” Hotch instructed while sitting down.

“Alright, friends, this week you are traveling to the lovely Los Angeles. Four women have all been found in the woods. They were all sexually assaulted, stabbed 13 times, and their hair was burned off. Next to their dumpsite, CSI found the bodies of four men, they were all shot in the heart,” Garcia explained while flipping through the slides on the TV.

“They were all y/h/c-haired and y/e/c eyed in their early to mid-twenties,” Reid added. “Was there any relationship found between the women and the men, Garcia?

“Good eye, Dr. Reid, and yes. The women were all dating one of the men,” Garcia smiled. “Your first victims are 21-year-old Alisha Davis, liberal arts major at UCLA; she was dating 23-year-old Joseph Marin. Next was, 22-year-old Brittany French, chef at a local restaurant and her boyfriend Michael White, 24. Then was 23-year-old Paulette Queen, a nanny for an established family, she was involved with 23-year-old Daniel Roberts. Finally, Jemma Boone, 24, was working at a jewelry store, dating 25-year-old Nicholas Phillips.”

“How far apart were the killed?” you asked.

“The coroner estimates two weeks apart,” Garcia sighed. “Jemma was killed approximately 10 days ago. There also is evidence that he was keeping his victims for about 2 days before killing them.”

JJ spoke up from her side of the table, “The killings seem very ritualistic. They were each stabbed 13 times, they were all y/h/c.”

“The number 13 is considered an unlucky number in some countries. The end of the Mayan calendar's 13th Baktun was superstitiously feared as a harbinger of the apocalyptic 2012 phenomenon. Fear of the number 13 has a specifically recognized phobia, triskaidekaphobia, a word coined in 1911. The superstitious sufferers of triskaidekaphobia try to avoid bad luck by keeping away from anything numbered or labeled thirteen. As a result, companies and manufacturers use another way of numbering or labeling to avoid the number, with hotels and tall buildings being conspicuous examples (thirteenth floor).It is also considered unlucky to have thirteen guests at a table. Friday the 13th has been considered an unlucky day. There are a number of theories as to why the number thirteen became associated with bad luck, but none of them have been accepted as likely,” Reid started to ramble.

“Colgate University also considers 13 a lucky number. They were founded in 1819 by 13 men with 13 dollars, 13 prayers, and 13 articles. To this day, members of the Colgate community consider the number 13 a good omen. In fact, the campus address is 13 Oak Drive in Hamilton, New York, and the male _a cappella_ group is called the Colgate 13. In the Mayan Tzolk'in calendar, trecenas mark cycles of 13-day periods. The pyramids are also set up in 9 steps divided into 7 days and 6 nights, 13 days total. In the standard 52-card deck of playing cards, there are four suits, each of 13 ranks. In a tarot card deck, XIII is the card of Death, usually picturing the Pale horse with its rider. A baker's dozen, devil's dozen, long dozen, or long measure is 13, one more than a standard dozen,” you started rambling too, everyone just stared at you. 

“He is focusing more on the women,” Prentiss noticed.

“What makes you say that?” Morgan questioned.

“There is no evidence that the men were held in captivity,” Prentiss continued. “Also, more things were done to the women than the men, their hair was burned and they were sexually assaulted.”

“So it’s more about the women than the men,” Rossi chimed in, “WHat does that tell us about the unsub?”

You had an answer to the question, “He may have had his heart broken by a y/e/c-eyed, y/h/c-haired girl.”

“I know we just got back but there is going to be another murder in 4 days. Wheels up in 30,” Hotch sighed.

Everyone got up to leave, including you. You headed for the elevator to head home and grab your go-bag. On your drive home, there was one thing on your mind, a serial killer who only killed y/e/c-eyed, y/h/c-haired, and was going to kill someone who was 25, how could this go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient with me on this. I'm writing as much as I can.  
> I hope you guys like this story so far.


	7. This town will never change People come and go, it's all the same

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so I wrote about autism in this chapter, but I am not an expert on it. If I messed up any of the information about autism please leave a comment and I will be sure to fix it, thank you! Enjoy!

You grabbed your stuff from your apartment, called your neighbor, and headed for the airfield. The prospect of sleep kept creeping into your head. Finally arriving at the airfield, you got on the plane and sat across from Reid and next to Morgan. By the time the pilot was ready for takeoff you were completely knocked out. You could hear Morgan and Reid talking, thinking you heard your name, you woke up but kept your eyes closed. They were talking about you, but it was, more or less, Morgan being nosy and Reid avoiding his questions with weird facts.

About two hours into your 5-hour flight, Hotch started the lot of you talking about the case, “This unsub is very peculiar.”  
“Yeah, why would he stab the women, but shoot the men?” JJ asked from her seat on the plane.

“The combination of that, the strict schedule, and the number 13 could tell us that this unsub may suffer from a condition similar to autism,” you added, looking at the case file.

“Many people who suffer from autism, and conditions like it, are often on very strict schedules with their caregivers if they have one,” Reid agreed.

Prentiss looked confused with the knowledge dump you and Reid provided, “But if the unsub had autism, wouldn’t that set him back mentally?”

“Actually, a lot of the people with the highest IQs suffer from mental defects like autism,” you corrected. “Charles Darwin, Emily Dickinson, and Thomas Jefferson were all believed to be on the autism spectrum.”

“So, if the unsub had autism, he would most likely have a caregiver, right?” Rossi piped up from his spot next to Reid.

“If he had a form of low functioning autism it’s possible but if he is high on the spectrum it’s unlikely,” Reid answered.

“I’ll have Garcia see if she can find a list of autism patients in LA county,” Hotch finished.

Everyone returned to what they were doing, you pulled out your cell phone and headphones. You played some of your favorite oldies, Bon Jovi, REO Speedwagon, The Beatles, Queen. The plane finally landed at 5:30 California time.

“We don’t have much time to catch this guy before he abducts two more people, so we’re going to head right to the station,” Hotch stood up to talk to the group of you. Everyone got up, grabbed their bags, and shuffled off the plane, heading for the two SUVs parked on the tarmac. You got into the backseat of the second SUV, Rossi hopped into the passenger seat, Morgan was driving, and Reid was in the back. Morgan followed Hotch who was driving the first SUV. Their speedy driving got you all to the station 10 minutes before the estimated arrival time. 

Hopping out of the car, Morgan gave you a hand, as if you were a princess exiting a carriage, “There you go sweetheart,” he winked.

“Morgan,” you heard Reid say sternly.

“Sorry, pretty boy,” Morgan smirked, letting go of your hand. The four of you followed Hotch, JJ, and Prentiss into the station.

An officer approached Hotch, “You must be the BAU, thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“Of course,” Hotch shook the officer’s hand. “Is there anywhere we can set up?”

“We have the conference room set up for you folks.”

“Thank you,” Hotch walked in the direction the man pointed. We entered into a room with a clear whiteboard map of Los Angeles, a corkboard with the victims’ pictures, and a blank whiteboard. Hotch’s phone started to ring, “Go ahead, Garcia.”

“Good evening friends, I was doing some digging into the credit cards of the victims and I found that they all ate at Isla Flavorosa, an incredibly high-class restaurant in LA,” Garcia notes. “I also received a call from the coroner with more information about the state of the bodies and he said that they were all wearing fancy clothes.”

“The kind of clothes you would wear to a high-class restaurant?” you asked.

“Exactly, newbie,” Garcia giggled.

“Thank you, Garcia,” Hotch hung up the phone.

“So he abducts them before they have the opportunity to go home and change,” you added, “that doesn’t leave a very big time frame.”

“Alright, Y/N and Reid stay here and update the boards with what we know, JJ and Morgan head to the coroner’s office. Prentiss, some of the family members are coming in, talk with them when they get here. Rossi and I are going to go check out the dumpsite,” Hotch ordered and everyone scurried out of the room except for you and Reid.

You started to write on the whiteboard a few of the conclusions the team had made when you noticed Reid glancing at you every once in a while. 

He was working on the geographic profile, “I don’t have autism you know.”

You looked at him confused, “Did I say you did?”

“Not directly,” he looked back at the clear whiteboard.

“Reid,” you sighed, putting down the marker you were using, “I wasn’t trying to imply that you had autism.”

He turned his head to look at you, “kinda seemed like it.”

“I’m sorry,” you put the file you were holding on the desk and walked out of the room, you could hear Reid call your name but you just ignored him. You left the police station and sat on a bench outside. The cool breeze felt nice on your face. You could feel a single tear roll down your cheek. You sat outside for about 20 minutes before it started to get chilly and you stood up to head back inside. Rossi and Hotch started to walk your way when you stood up.

“Why are you sitting out here?” Hotch looked at you with a puzzled look on his face.

“I felt a little nauseous so I thought some fresh air would help,” you lied through your teeth. Hotch nodded and walked inside.

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Y/N,” Rossi whispered, walking alongside you.

“Who, Hotch?” you asked. Never before in your life has someone said something so weird.

“No, Reid,” Rossi corrected before hustling to catch up with Hotch leaving you confused.

When you entered the conference room the whole team was sitting around the table talking about the case, “The medical examiner didn’t have anything new for us,” JJ said.

“Prentiss, what did the families say?” Hotch asked, turning his attention in the other direction.

“They all mentioned something about proposing,” Prentiss looked at the notes she had taken, “Three of the guys asked for the father’s blessing and the other one talked to his parents about it.”

“That’s weird,” Rossi spoke up. “If they all have that in common, that could be some criteria the unsub had for picking his victims, but how would he have known that.”

“He couldn't have,” you added. “Proposing is such a top-secret thing is today’s society that there would be no way for the unsub to know unless he worked at a jewelry store or something.”  
“The fourth victim worked at a jewelry store,” Morgan commented. “I’m going to call Garcia,”

“At the crime scene, Rossi and I noticed that at all of the graves the men were buried next to their girlfriends and there were flowers near the graves,” Hotch noted.

“What kind of flowers?” Reid asked from his clear whiteboard.

“Lilies, I think,” Rossi chimed in. 

“Those are one of the most common flowers at funerals,” Reid continued. “This unsub may have had funerals for his victims.”

Morgan came back from calling Garcia, “I’m having Garcia cross-check a list of employees at local jewelry stores and employees at the restaurant, I think the best way to catch this guy is to send someone undercover, Hotch,” Morgan suggested.

“Ok, but who are we going to send?” Hotch responded. “We need someone with y/h/c hair, y/e/c eyes, and someone to be their boyfriend.”

“What if we sent Y/N and Reid?” Morgan’s face lit up at his genius idea.

“Oh, I do- I don’t know,” you chimed in. “I didn’t bring a fancy dress.”  
“If you two don’t want to go you don’t have to,” Hotch looked at you, “but you would be our best shot and we could buy you a dress.” 

You turned to look at Reid, “I’m in if you are.” He looked you in the eyes confidently but his face seemed so worried.

“I’ll do it,” He turned to look at Hotch and nodded.

“Alright. I’ll call the restaurant and have them notified about our plan,” Hotch took out his phone. “It’s getting late, you can all head to the hotel, Y/N, you can go dress shopping tomorrow,” you nodded and walked out of the station with the team, breathing in the fresh air. _Please let this end well._


	8. Tell me that we'll go back You and I will go back Do it all again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

You woke up the next morning feeling a pit in your stomach. By 8 o’clock tonight you were going to be on a “date” with Spencer. First, you had to meet everyone at the station. You got ready in your dress pants and blouse, fixed your hair, and put on minimal makeup. 

When you left your room you saw Prentiss standing outside of JJ’s room, “Good morning, Y/N,” Prentiss was very happy this morning. “Are you ready for tonight?”

“Not really,” you sighed, “I mean I’ve been undercover before, but then I could have a gun on me.”

“Yeah, you’re going dress shopping later right?” 

“I am,” you smiled. JJ opened the door right as you were about to speak, “Good Morning, JJ.”

She looked surprised to see you and Prentiss outside her room this early, “Good Morning to you too.”

“Are you ready to go?” Prentiss asked JJ.

“Yeah, I am,” JJ smiled. “Y/N, do you want to ride to the station with us.”

It felt nice knowing that they wanted to be around you, “Sure.” The three of you made your way to the elevator and then to the SUV. JJ offered to drive, so you sat in the back. You all talked the entire drive to the station. You were laughing so hard your stomach hurt. When you pulled into the station parking lot, you saw Reid and Morgan waiting outside. You, JJ, and Prentiss all got out of the SUV laughing. As you walked toward the door Reid and Morgan’s attention shifted toward the three of you.

“Good morning, boys,” JJ said happily.

“Good Morning,” Reid responded. 

The three of you continued to walk inside, “Y/N, can you wait out here for a second?” Morgan asked.

“Sure,” you turned around and headed back toward them.

“Hotch should be out here any second,” Morgan said, and right on queue, Hotch walked out and toward the three of you. “There he is.”

“Morgan, what did Garcia find about the connection between the jewelers and the restaurant?” Hotch looked as stern as ever.

“She found that three of the employees at the restaurant worked at jewelers all throughout the city,” Morgan explained.

“Ok, Reid, you and Morgan are going to go to the jewelry stores and look at engagement rings,” Hotch started to explain what was going to happen today, “make sure that if anyone helps you, show them a picture of Y/N and how old she is.” 

“Ok,” Reid nodded.

“Also, mention that you’re going to dinner tonight at Isla Flavorosa,” Hotch continued. “Y/N, you are going dress shopping today, you have $500 dollars to work with, I’m going to have Rossi go with you.”

“Ok, when am I going?” you asked, nodding.

“We have more information for the board, so get that up and then you can head out.” Hotch nodded.

You went up the stairs after that and headed inside. You quickly got the information up on the board in an organized manner. It was pretty much just stuff you went over yesterday. When you were done you got Rossi and headed for the SUV. He drove you to a boutique not that far away. 

When you walked in, one of the workers came up and greeted the two of you, “Good morning,” she was so perky, “My name is Jessica, how can I help you two today?”

“Agent David Rossi, FBI, This is Agent Y/N Y/L/N,” Rossi was quick with his badge, the girl’s face dropped.

“I need a dress and shoes for tonight,” you smiled at the frightened girl, “perfectly tailored and all that jazz.”

“We have a seamstress in house who can get it fitted once you pick a dress out,” she seemed to relax, knowing that she wasn’t in trouble. “What kind of dress are you looking for?” 

“Something simple, yet elegant,” you giggled, “and black preferably.”

“We keep all of our black dresses over here,” she pointed to a section of the store, “Why don’t you pick out a few while I set up a dressing room for you?” you nodded and walked the way she pointed.

“There is no need to scare her, Rossi,” you teased. 

He sighed, “Pick your dresses,” he was doing that sly smile that he tends to do.

You had an idea of what you wanted but didn’t know if you’d find it. You were looking for a black dress with a high slit or side-cutouts, that hugged your curves. There was no need to look at the ball gowns, but they were really pretty. You grabbed three dresses that caught your eye and brought them over to Jessica.

“Let me write down the designers and the numbers for you really quick,” she said, you handed her the dresses and she looked at all the tags. “Portia and Scarlett PS6376, La Femme 28569, and Sherri Hill 53332, you can try these on in there.”

“Thank you,” You walked over to the dressing room with your name on it. The first dress you tried on was the La Femme one. It was a lace, off the shoulder, almost mermaid gown. It fit you perfectly. You walked out of the dressing room and you looked in the mirror. 

“You look wonderful,” Rossi said, almost as if he were your dad.

“I don’t know,” turning to look at the back, you frowned, “It’s a little much.”

“Go try on the others,” he motioned you toward the dressing room. You got off the platform and walked into the dressing room again. This time trying on the Sherri Hill dress. This one was strapless and had a high slit with a few jewels right above it.

“I really like this one,” you pulled the base of the dress up and climbed the few steps to the mirrors. You stared at yourself in the mirror for a little bit, turning to see different angles. “Ok,” you breathed out while walking down the stairs and back to the dressing room. Taking off the dress, you held it up and smiled, then hung it up again. The last dress you wanted to try on was a black glittery dress, it didn’t have a back and had a high slit. “This one is a lot,” you looked at the dress with a frown. It was extremely beautiful but it was a bit much for dinner. You turned to look at Jessica, “I’ll take the second one.”

“Ok, I’ll get the seamstress,” she smiled, “Can you put the dress back on?”

“Yeah, of course,” you went back to the dressing room and put on the gorgeous dress. Leaving the dressing room you saw a lady standing there with pins and a seamstress’s measuring tape. She pinned back parts of the dress that needed to be tightened and then you took it off. You grabbed your normal clothes and put them back on. “Alright let’s find some shoes,” you smiled at Rossi, who sighed. You walked to the shoe section and looked at some of the heels that they had. There were three shoes that really caught your eye. The ones that you liked the most were the Michael Kors Antonia Sandal in a dark gray color. You tried them on and they were oddly comfortable. You put them back into the box and walked over to the counter.

Jessica rang up the shoes and typed the dress number in, “Your total comes out to be $575.”

“Oh, um- let me pick out a different pair.” You grabbed the shoes and turned to walk away when you saw Rossi standing behind you.

“What’s wrong?” Rossi asked.

You’re face dropped, you didn’t want to bring him into this, “The shoes are too expensive,” you explained. “Hotch gave me $500, and the total was $575.”

He patted you on the shoulder and pulled out his wallet, “Let me cover the overage.”

“No, I can’t make you do that,” you sighed.

“It’s fine,” he smiled, “It’s only $75.” 

You smiled at the man’s kindness. The store phone started to ring and Jessica answered and hung up shortly after, “the seamstress is done with your dress. I’ll be back in a minute.” She left and came back quickly with your dress in a bag. You tried it on one last time and it fit perfectly. You and Rossi left shortly after and headed back to the station. On the drive back yo had a feeling that you were missing something.

Morgan and Reid were in the conference room when you walked in, “how was dress shopping, Princess?” Morgan chuckled as you walked in with a dress bag and shoe box. 

“It was good,” you smiled. “How was ring shopping?” 

“I now see why women love jewelry so much,” Reid smiled. The four of you talked about the case and the people at the jewelry store who seemed suspicious. Once five o’clock rolled around you dismissed yourself to head to the hotel to do your hair and makeup. You curled your hair and pulled back some front pieces for a half-up-half-down. Your makeup consisted of a smokey eye, neutral lip, and basic face makeup. Driving back to the station, it felt weird to think that you are being paid to go to dinner and get kidnapped. You arrived back at the station and found all the guys in suits and JJ and Prentiss were still in pantsuits. You grabbed your dress and shoes and headed to the bathroom, changing quickly.

When you exited the bathroom Rossi was standing outside, waiting for you, “You look absolutely stunning, Y/N.” He kissed your hand, “Wait till Reid sees you,” He winked at you with the last statement.  _ What did that mean? _

You two walked back to the conference room. When you entered Morgan’s jaw dropped, Hotch’s jaw dropped and Reid was facing the whiteboard. 

“Y/N, you look beautiful,” Morgan was baffled with how you cleaned up so well. When he said that Reid turned around and just stared at you.

“Do you have a way to carry your badge?” Hotch asked.

“That’s what I forgot,” you sighed, “a clutch, yeah I don’t think I can carry anything.”

“Ok, Reid?” Hotch tried getting boy genius’s attention.

He was still staring at you, but snapped out of it when he heard his name, “Yeah, Hotch.”

“You cannot bring a gun into the restaurant, you won’t be able to carry it without someone seeing it.”

“So we are going to be kidnapped without weapons?” You were confused at how they wanted you to do such a dangerous task.

“Unfortunately yes, Morgan, JJ, Prentiss, and I are going to be in the restaurant with you, and Rossi will be outside with some cops.”

You nodded, “What time is our reservation?”

Reid checked his watch, “7:30.” 

“We should get going then.”

“We have a car for you two,” Hotch added, “we don’t want you looking so official.” Hotch tossed Reid the keys, you nodded. Reid offered you his arm and you interlocked your arm with his and walked out to the car.

“I’m driving,” Reid smiled at you with that lovely smile of his. 

“You sure?” 

“Y/N, we have to pretend that we’re in love for this to work.”

You awkwardly chuckled, “Yeah, pretend.” Luckily, Reid was too socially awkward to realize what your statement meant. 

You two drove in silence, but it didn’t feel like it. There were so many things going on in your head that it felt like you two were having a conversation. Reid stopped at the front of the restaurant. He turned the car off and got out, he walked around to your side and opened your door, helping you out of the car. He handed the keys to the valet and led you inside, “The valet was one of the people at the jewelry store today,” he whispered into your ear. You nodded as you slowly approached the front desk, “Reservation for Spencer Reid,” he was completely different tonight, more masculine.

“This is a very nice restaurant,” You looked around at the decor and made eye contact with your team members. 

“Yeah, a special place for a special girl,” He held your hand from across the table and stared into your eyes.  _ Is he pretending to be in love? _ The waiter came over and filled up your wine glasses before asking if you were ready to order. You requested a few more minutes as you hadn’t even looked at the menu yet. The restaurant had received praise for their spaghetti carbonara. 

The waiter came back five minutes later, “Did you have enough time to look at the menu?”

You smiled, “I’ll have the spaghetti carbonara, Spencer?”

“I’ll have the steak, medium-rare.” He turned his attention back toward you as the waiter walked away. 

“So, what did you do today, honey?” He seemed taken aback by the name you’d called him.

“Work was boring, like usual,” he sat up straighter and was looking at something behind you.

“Are you closing the account with MetLife soon?” you had heard your mother talk about stuff like that when you were a kid.

He nodded, “There is a man staring at us from the kitchen,” he said without moving his lips.

“Ok, don’t make a big deal out of it,” you signaled Morgan to the mysterious man. Your food came quickly. “Do you see anyone else from the jewelry stores?” you asked.

He turned his attention back toward you, “No, I think we’re good.”

“That’s good,” you smiled. “So, your mom called me today and we had a lovely conversation.”

Reid tried to figure out how you could possibly know his mom before realizing that you were acting. “And what would that be about?”

“She was asking me what my dream wedding would look like,” you smiled, still trying to eat your food. 

“What a weird thing for my mom to ask you,” he was smiling into his food.

“How’s your steak?” 

“Good, really good, actually!” he was acting really weird, being all shady.

“Why are you so nervous, honey?” you were still acting.

“It’s nothing,” he smiled. “How is your spaghetti carbonara?”

“It’s good, some of the best I’ve had.”   
“One of my friends, David Rossi, do you remember him?” he asked calmly.

“I met him at Derek’s party right?”  _ This is fun, being all secretive. _

“Yeah. He makes a really good spaghetti carbonara,” he was looking at you like you were dying. “I’ll see if he’ll have us over some time.”

You giggled, “Do you have any interesting facts about spaghetti carbonara?”

“There are many theories for the origin of the name carbonara, which is likely more recent than the dish itself. Since the name is derived from Carbonaro, some believe the dish was first made as a hearty meal for Italian charcoal workers. In parts of the United States, this etymology gave rise to the term "coal miner's spaghetti". It has even been suggested that it was created as a tribute to the Carbonari secret society prominent in the early, repressed stages of Italian unification in the early 19th century. It seems more likely that it is an "urban dish" from Rome, perhaps popularized by the Roman restaurant of the same name. The names pasta alla carbonara and spaghetti alla carbonara are unrecorded before the Second World War; notably, it is absent from Ada Boni's 1930 La Cucina Romana. The carbonara name is first attested in 1950 when it was described in the Italian newspaper La Stampa as a dish sought by the American officers after the Allied liberation of Rome in 1944. It was described as a "Roman dish" at a time when many Italians were eating eggs and bacon supplied by troops from the United States. In 1954, it was included in Elizabeth David's Italian Food, an English-language cookbook published in Great Britain.” you thought it was cute when he rambled.

The waiter came back to collect your plates and asked if you were interested in dessert, you both declined. Reid paid for the meal and you two left. When you left the restaurant, it felt like the temperature dropped ten degrees from before. The valet had left to get your car and you started to shiver.

“Are you cold?” Reid asked tenderly.

“Yeah, who knew it could get so chilly in LA?”

He took off his suit jacket and put it on your shoulders, “it’s normally in the low 50s at night.”

The valet came back with the car and walked around to Spencer to give him the keys. You felt something in your back, and Spencer’s face dropped, “Get in the car or I shoot her,” he demanded. There was a gun to your back, the valet was the unsub. Reid quickly walked around to the other side while the valet put you in the back of the car, still pointing a gun at you, “follow my instructions and no one gets hurt.” Reid followed the instructions to a T. The unsub had him drive in circles for a while and then to an abandoned property in the city. He dragged you out of the car and forced Spencer out with the gun. He led you inside and to the basement. He put chains on your legs and zip ties on your wrists, doing the same to Spencer, before heading back upstairs.

“Are you ok?” Spencer asked you calmly.

“Yeah, how about you?” you were still trying to grasp what was happening.

He breathed a sigh of relief, “I’m ok.”

“You won’t be in a minute,” the unsub said from the top of the stairs.

“What do you want with us?” Reid was breathing really heavily, his hair had gotten really messed up, it was cute.

“It’s not you I want,” He looked disappointed with Reid’s question, “it’s her that I want.” He walked toward you with a menacing grin. “Do what I say, and we can live together forever,” he breathed on your neck. 

“What do you want?” you spat.

The unsub held a gun out for you, “Shoot him,” he handed you the gun while keeping his hand on it.

“What?” you were completely taken aback, “You want me to shoot my boyfriend?” 

“Shoot him or I shoot you,” he hissed in your ear, loud enough for Reid to hear. Reid was completely taken aback.

You grabbed the gun and pointed it at Spencer who looked mortified, “No.” you lowered the gun, and you felt a stinging pain on your face when the unsub slapped you. 

“Do it,” he raised the gun with your hands still on it. “Do it, and I won’t kill you.”

You felt a single tear go down your cheek, “No.” 

“You ignorant slut!” the unsub shouted at you before grabbing the gun and stomping back up the stairs. 

Tears were now flowing down your cheeks, “I’m so sorry,” you repeated over and over again,

“It’s okay, I’m okay,” Reid was trying to calm you down. You silently sobbed for what felt like forever before the unsub came down again.

“Wanna try this again, princess?” He held the gun out to you.

“I won’t do it,” you tried making yourself seem bigger and stronger than you actually were.

“Fine, then.” The unsub aimed the gun at you and you closed your eyes knowing what was about to happen. You heard a gunshot and felt a stinging pain in your side. Before you opened your eyes you heard a scream and another gunshot.

“Reid,” you shouted, “Reid, answer me! Are you okay?”

You felt someone pull you into their lap, “Yeah I’m okay,” he was brushing your hair out of your face

“Reid, I think I’m going to take a little nap, ok?” you calmly spoke feeling your body starting to give out.

“No, hold on just a little longer, the team is almost here,” his voice was really calming.

You put your hand up to his face, he pulled you closer. Before you knew it, his lips were on yours. After you pulled away, you smiled and felt your body go limp. Everything went black.


	9. I hope some day I'll make it out of here Even if it takes all night or a hundred years

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is shorter and it's from Spencer's POV.

**Spencer’s POV**

We had been in his basement for over an hour when the unsub finally came back down. “Wanna try this again, princess?” He held the gun out to her.

“I won’t do it,” she was saving me, even if it meant sacrificing himself luckily he didn’t profile as willing to shoot his female victim.

“Fine, then.” He pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger.

“No!” I finally got my hands free and grabbed the gun from my waistband. I aimed, pulled the trigger, and watched him fall to the ground.

“Reid,” she shouted, “Reid, answer me! Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m okay,” I moved closer to her, my feet were still shackled. Pulling her into my lap, I finally saw the extent of her injuries. One bullet wound to her lower right side. Even as she was bleeding out, she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

“Reid, I think I'm going to take a little nap, ok?” she pale, her words were starting to slur.

“No, hold on just a little longer, the team is almost here,” I pulled her closer to my chest, and she reached her hand up to my face. I was struck by an overwhelming feeling, but I couldn’t put a name to it. I pulled her up closer to me and placed my lips on hers. She had the softest lips I’d ever felt. She was the one bleeding out, but she still made me feel safe. I pulled out of the kiss to see a smile on her face before she went limp, “Y/N, Y/N wake up,” I put my hand on her face and increased the pressure on her wound.

“Adam Davis, FBI open up,” it was muffled, but Derek's voice gave me hope. 

“Morgan, we’re in the basement,” I shouted as loud as I could, hoping he could hear me. There were lights coming down the stairs and footsteps, “Hotch, Morgan, over here!” I waved them over to the bloody scene.

Morgan leaned into his com, “We need a medic down here.” He knelt down to check the unsub’s pulse. “How are you doing, kid?” 

“I’ve been better,” I was still holding her body in my arms, she was cold. “Morgan, she’s losing a lot of blood.”

“There is an ambulance upstairs,” Morgan cut her shackles and grabbed her from my arms and carried her bridal style up the stairs.

“What happened?” Hotch asked looking at the pools of blood on the floor.

It made me nauseous to think back to it, “I’ll explain later, can you get me out of these,” gesturing to the chains around my feet.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” Hotch grabbed the cutters and helped me stand up. “So that gun came in handy?”

“Unfortunately,” my face told the whole story. 

“Do you need to get checked out by a medic?” Hotch always made sure we were healthy before making us go anywhere. 

“Can we head back to the station?” I could see the paramedics loading her body into the ambulance.

“Morgan is going to ride with her,” Hotch gestured to the ambulance.

“Can I?” I wanted to be there when she woke up. What would she think if I wasn’t?

“Yeah, go tell Morgan,” With Hotch’s ok, I rushed over to Morgan before they had the chance to leave.

“Morgan, I’m gonna ride with her,” He was already climbing into the ambulance when I stopped him.

“Ok, we’ll meet you at the hospital,” He patted me on the back as I climbed into the ambulance.

The ride to the hospital was quiet. The paramedics worked on keeping her stable, while I sat and worried. When we reached the ambulance bay, there were doctor’s waiting for us. The paramedics explained her situation while rushing her inside. One of the doctors came up to tell me that they were taking me to surgery and that I could wait in the waiting room. All I could do was worry. _That should be me on the table. Why couldn’t she have just shot me?_ The worry turned to anger. Anger at Hotch, anger at Morgan, and anger at Y/N. It was selfish of me to be angry at her but I couldn’t help it. 

The team arrived half an hour later, “Have you heard anything yet?” JJ came up and hugged me.

“No, she’s still in surgery,” I sighed and sat back down.

“Here, kid,” Morgan held out a bag. “We brought you a change of clothes.”

In all the commotion, I forgot that I was wearing bloody clothes, “Thank you,” I grabbed the bag and headed for the bathrooms.

“How are you doing?” I heard Rossi say from behind me.

I turned around and waited for him to catch up with me, “I kissed her, Rossi,” A smile crept across my face thinking back to the magical moment in time.

“I knew it,” Rossi had a smile on his face, it caught me off guard. “I’ve seen the way you look at her.”

“I just hope she makes it,” I felt a tear run down my cheek. “I’m going to change,” I didn’t want to cry in front of him. 

“You can talk to me, Reid. I’m always here for you,” he put a hand on my shoulder before leaving me in my sadness.

I got into the bathroom just fine, but when I knew no one could see me, I collapsed in a puddle of tears. My tears ran dry and it felt like I couldn’t cry anymore. I just sat there and stared at the wall. Truly, I didn’t know how much time had passed, but when I finally felt like standing up, I knew it had been a while. I changed quickly and started for the bathroom exit. The time was 3am and I had received three messages from the team in the two hours. She was out of surgery, but she still wasn’t awake. Morgan had texted me the room number. I quickly found my way to her room. Everyone was sitting around her. For someone who was half dead 3 hours ago, she looked beautiful. She was sleeping so peacefully. “How is she doing?”

“Let’s talk outside,” Rossi ushered me out of the room. _What the fuck happened?_ “The doctor said that there were some complications during the surgery,” I could feel all the color leaving my face. “He said that there is a chance she may not wake up, and if she does wake up, they don’t know what her brain function will be like.”

“So she may be like that forever?” The thought made my heart feel heavy. 

Rossi nodded, “Yes, but the bureau is having her taken back to DC so we can all come and visit whenever we’d like.” We re-entered the room shortly after that.  _ She’s going to wake up. She has to. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for 300 hits!! I uploaded this to Wattpad as well, so you can check it out there.
> 
> I have an idea for chapter titles but that would mean going back and adding some dialogue to each chapter. It also means that I could make a Spotify playlist to go along with this story. I don't know if that is something you guys are interested in.  
> Let me know what you think!!


	10. When you cry, you waste your time Over boys you never liked

**Your POV**

There was a distinctive smell that hospitals had. The only way you could describe it was clean. You had always hated hospitals. All that hospitals meant for you was that someone is dying.

“Oh my god,” your throat was sore and you could hear how hoarse your voice was. When you opened your eyes Spencer was staring at you, he looked like a deer in the headlights.

“Let me get the nurse,” you heard Spencer’s voice, he seemed worried.

You reached out and grabbed his arm before he could walk away, “Stay,” you let go of his arm realizing what you had done, “please.” You tried to sit up but it hurt too much. Like a wave, the memories of that night hit you all at once, “Are you okay, did he shoot you?”

“How can you do that?” Spencer asked out of nowhere.

“Do what?” Why was he being so mean to you? He’d kissed you a little while earlier and now he’s an asshole.

“You got shot, you were dying in my arms, the doctor said you might not even wake up,” He put his hand on yours, “and you’re worried about me. Why?”

“How long have I been out?” You pulled your hand away.

“3 days,” he stood up and headed for the door.

“Where are we?” given the fact that you were shot in LA, there should be palm trees outside your window, not snow.

“We had you airlifted back to DC,” he looked guilty. “I’m going to get the nurse.”

He left to do as he said. He and the nurse came back a few minutes later. She performed a few tests on you and then left.

“You should get some rest,” Reid grabbed his jacket from the chair in the corner.

“I’m sorry,” you flipped from your back to your right side. Away from the door, toward the window. It was snowing, it looked so soft. You heard Reid moving around, but couldn’t tell what he was doing. He walked over toward the window and knelt in front of your face. He started to brush down some of your hair with his hands. He kissed your forehead before standing up and leaving. A tear rolled down your cheek, all you could do was stare out the window.

You don’t remember when you started sobbing. It was one of the longest nights of your life. Everything melded together. The nurse brought you food, but you didn’t eat it. You eventually fell asleep, but all you could think about was Spencer and the team. There was a pit in your stomach. As a child, you’d always had trouble naming your feelings, but right now you knew exactly what you felt. Anger. There was a beast inside of you all it wanted to do was escape. You wanted to hit something or throw something. You wanted to scream at the top of your lungs. You may have known what you were feeling but you couldn’t tell why you were so angry. 

Finally, the morning came. You couldn’t stand to sit in silence anymore. Spencer showed up around 10. When he walked in, you realized what made you so angry. It was him, he was the reason you cried yourself to sleep last night. 

“Please leave,” you were still facing the window, but anyone could tell that you were angry just by the tone of your voice.

“Y/N, what’s wrong?” He sat at the foot of your bed, setting the muffin he had brought you on the table at the end of the bed.

“I cried myself to sleep last night, Spencer,” you turned to face him, the stains of last night’s tears still on your face. You had run through all sorts of scenarios for how this would end, but you were shocked when he pulled the blankets back and laid next to you. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled the covers back up. He held you for an hour before you finally spoke up, “What happened in there?”

“Where?” he pulled back a bit so he could see your face.

“In the unsub’s basement,” you put your head back on his chest. “I thought Hotch said you couldn’t carry a gun.”

“He did, but that wasn’t the truth,” he rested his chin on your head. “We decided that since you hadn’t been undercover before that if you didn’t know the whole plan, I could do my job better. Hotch had me keep a gun under my shirt in the back. He also gave me some kevlar string. What wasn’t part of the plan was you getting shot. He didn’t profile as going to shoot the female victim. When he locked us in the basement, I started to use the kevlar string to basically saw my way out of the zip-ties. I didn’t get free until he had the gun pointed at you. By then I grabbed the gun from under my shirt, and I shot him. I’m sorry, we had to keep you in the dark if we were going to apprehend him.”

“Where did you shoot him?” 

“In the head, but I was aiming for his leg,” he chuckled.

“What happened after that?” It made sense why they didn’t tell you he had a gun, but you would’ve liked to know.

“Luckily, Rossi saw the valet take us so they had Garcia find his name. We weren’t on his property so it took them longer to find us. We were at one of his father’s construction sites,” his voice was so calming.

“Thank you,” you started to cry in his arms. There wasn’t much he could do to help you. The snow had turned to rain, pounding against your window. For the next few hours, you cried in his arms listening to the rain before falling asleep. 

When you woke up the next morning, he was still holding you. He hadn’t moved all night. The nurse came in the morning to tell you that you were able to leave later that day. Spencer woke up an hour later. You told him the good news, and he helped you pack up some of the things that Garcia had brought to make you feel more at home. You signed all of the necessary papers and left the hospital. Spencer helped you to his car and he drove you to your apartment but not before stopping at the BAU to grab some work. When you finally got back to your apartment, you expected him to leave, but instead, he walked you to your bed and helped you lay down before going to get you and him some coffee. The anger that had built up inside you felt different. You realized that the anger had turned to love, and you couldn’t wish for it to be anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	11. Could've been one lonely night Just like the others But you lit up my life This is what it's like to be lovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the dialogue in this chapter is in Spanish, I am in my 4th year of Spanish classes, the translations are in bold at the end of the paragraph they're in.

You and Spencer spent the entire day together. The two of you mainly just watched TV and movies, while cuddling on your couch. Your night was cut short when Spencer’s phone started to ring, “Hello, yeah Hotch,” he was being called in for a case. “Can I stay in DC for this one?” he nodded at whatever your boss was saying, “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he stood up from the couch and headed toward your bedroom, “Can I bring Y/N? We’ll stay in the round table room,” you knew it was bad to eavesdrop, but it was so fun. Spencer and Hotch spoke for a little longer before he hung up.

“What was that?” you asked, trying to seem oblivious.

“We have a case,” he grabbed his coat from the stool in your kitchen. “Hotch said that you can come to Quantico with me if you want,” he stood by the door and waited for you to respond to his offer.

“Thank god, I don’t think I could be stuck inside for any longer,” You stood up from the couch and went to your bedroom. You changed out of your pajamas and grabbed your briefcase. Spencer was still waiting by the door when you came out, “Do we need to stop at your place?” you grabbed your keys and headed for the door.

“No, can we stop for coffee though?”

You threw him the keys, “You’re driving,” he fumbled with the keys before opening the door for you and locking up your apartment. You two made the twenty-minute drive to quantico in silence, other than when he stopped at a Starbucks. He ordered a black coffee and you ordered some peach tea. It was almost midnight so the need for caffeine was understandable.

When you finally arrived at the office, you were greeted by Garcia, “oh my god! You’re here and you’re okay!” She gave you the biggest hug imaginable.

“It’s good to see you too,” you returned her hug, being careful to avoid your wound.

“Garcia, we’re heading to the round table room to work,” Reid put his hand in the small of your back and led you away from the smiling blonde. You knew she had seen the ‘more than friends’ vibe between the two of you.

You and Reid finally got to the conference room and set your stuff down, “Alright, the team went to New Mexico. Three men were found in the desert without their hands. 30-year-old Jesus Perez, 27-year-old Andres Flores, and 31-year-old Toni Moreno. They were all dehydrated and had wounds from a BB gun,” Reid started to read the case file that was left for him.

“They were all of Mexican descent, is it possible these are hate crimes?” you tried to connect the dots between the seemingly unconnected victims.

He had that look on his face, the one that told you he was thinking and questioning every word that came out of your mouth, “it’s possible, the town that they all lived in had many anti-Mexican regimes.” It felt nice to contribute even if you couldn’t be with the team.

“Alright, that’s a start,” you grabbed your tea and stood up, “I’m going to talk with Garcia for a minute,” you started for the door.

“Do you need any help with the stairs?” Reid turned around from the board and stared at your stomach, looking for any sign to keep you with him.

“I’ll be fine,” you sent a smile his way and started your walk to Garcia’s office. “Hello, Garcia,” you opened her door and walked into her office.

“Good morning, Doctor,” She spun around in her chair with a smile on her face.

“Good morning, Garcia,” you entered her room and pulled up a chair next to her.

She spun around to face her computers, “What’s going on with you and boy genius?” She started to type on her keyboard.

“What do you mean?” You tried to play dumb, but she was smarter than that.

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” she turned and smiled at you.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you learned how to lie from a young age, control your breathing, your fidgeting, and maintain eye contact.

“Ok,” she sighed and turned back to her computer. Her phone started to ring and she answered, “Hello, chocolate thunder.” You were taken aback by the strange nicknames they had for each other.

“Hello, baby girl,” Morgan’s voice came through the phone. “Can you look for connections between our victims and the United Constitutional Patriots.”

“Morgan, who are the United Constitutional Patriots?” you were trying to get enough information to bring back to Reid.

“They are a right-wing militia group. They have been grabbing asylum seekers at the border before handing them over to border patrol,” he explained.

You nodded in recognition of the new information, “So you guys are thinking that someone from this group is killing the men?” 

“Exactly, princess,” he acknowledged. “I’m glad you're ok.”

“So is Reid,” Garcia mumbled.

“What?” you and Morgan questioned in unison.

From Morgan’s side of the phone, there was some sort of shouting, “Morgan what’s happening over there?” you asked.

“There is a lady yelling, in what sounds like, Spanish,” Morgan sounded nervous.

“Give her your phone,” you told him. You heard the woman over the phone and Morgan trying to calm her down. “Hola, Señora, ¿Qué es su nombre?  **Hello, Ma’am, what is your name?**

“Gloria Martinez,” the lady responded.

¿Qué necesita?” Garcia seemed shocked at your sudden language shift.  **What do you need?**

“Mi hijo, no sé dónde está,” the woman frantically shouted into the phone.  **My son, I don’t know where he is.**

“Ok, ¿cuándo fue la última vez lo Ud. vio?” you tried to get as much information as you could form her.  **Ok, when was the last time you saw him?**

“La noche pasada,” she seemed to be calming down. “Él me dijo que él iba estar allí para cena pero él nunca vino a mí casa.”  **Last night, he told me he was going to be there for dinner, but he never came to my house.**

“¿Qué es su nombre?” you asked, you heard the door open behind you and Garcia; Reid walked into the room.  **What is his name?**

“Es Mario Martinez,” she was trying to stay calm, you could hear it in her voice. **It’s Mario Martinez.**

“Bien, Señora, ¿puede dar el teléfono al hombre quien la dio a Ud.?” Reid looked surprised to hear you speaking a new language.  **Good, Ms, can you give the phone to the man who gave it to you?**

“Sí,” she took the phone away from her ear.  **Yes.**

“Hey, I didn’t know you spoke Spanish,” Morgan returned the phone to his ear.

“It was my minor in college,” you answered, “Morgan, I need you to take Ms. Martinez into the conference room and put the phone on speaker,” you barked orders at the man.

“Ok,” you heard the door shut on the other end. “You’re on speaker.”

“Señora Martínez, este hombre te preguntará preguntas en inglés, voy a traducir,” you tried to explain to her what was going to happen.  **Ms. Martinez, this man will ask you some questions in english, I’m going to translate.** “Morgan, ask her question about her son, I’ll translate for you,”

“Ms. Martinez, where did your son like to hang out?” Morgan started to ask questions, like you asked. 

“Sra, ¿dónde su hijo le gusta pasar tiempo con su amigos?” you translated.

“En bares, las vías del tren, lugares similares.”

“Morgan, she said, ‘Bars, the train tracks, similar places,’” Reid looked proud to see you helping even after what you’d been through.

“How old was your son?” Morgan asked

“¿Cuántos años tiene su hijo?” you hoped this was helping Morgan.

“Veinte años,” she stated.

“He’s twenty years old,” you translated. The questions and answers continued for half an hour.

“I think we’ve got all we need, thank you Ms.Martinez,” Morgan finished.

“Tenemos todo que necesitamos. Si necesitamos más información, ¿podemos llamarte?” making sure that you had a way to get more information.  **We have all that we need. If we need more information, can we call you?**

“Sí, puedo escribir mi numero de telephono,” She wrote down her number and you heard her stand up to leave, “Gracias.”

“Gracias, señora,” you heard the door open and close.

“Thank you for that, Y/N,” Morgan added.

“Yeah, it’s no problem. If you need any more, call me,” you finished.

“Adios, mi amor,” Garcia added, and then hung up.

You stood up and got ready to leave, “Garcia, can you get membership lists of the United Constitutional Patriots in the area?” 

“Will do,” she started to type on her computer.

Reid put his hand in the small of your back as you walked out of the office, “I didn’t know you spoke Spanish?”

You waited till the door was closed before responding, “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Dr. Reid.”

“What else can you say in Spanish?” Reid asked you. 

“I can say whatever you’d like,” you winked at him.

The two of you walked back to the roundtable room. You two worked diligently on the case for the next few hours. Before the sun started to come up. Reid left to get the two of you breakfast.

While he was gone, you moved from the table to the couch, eventually, falling asleep. You woke up with a blanket on you. The clock said it was 10am.

You sat up and saw Reid sitting at the table, “Mmm, pancakes,” you rubbed your eyes and walked over to the table.

“You were sleeping so peacefully, I didn’t want to wake you up,” he looked up at you.

“Thank you,” you sat down and started to eat the pancakes in front of you.

The clock kept ticking by and there weren’t any more victims for a while. Ms. Martinez’s son eventually showed up. The team was out of leads before someone came into the police station and said that they knew who was responsible. The lead checked out with Garcia. They eventually apprehended a white supremacist just north of the border. Once JJ called you and Reid with this information, you and Reid stopped looking at the files. The team was supposed to be back in DC before 6pm. You and Reid stayed around and worked on paperwork to give the team less to do.

“It’s good to see you here,” Rossi entered the bullpen with open arms.

You got up to give him a hug, “Rossi, it’s good to see you too.”

“I have a gift for you, it’s in my office,” Rossi led you to his office.

“You really didn’t have to get me anything,” you giggled at the man’s kindness.

“When you got shot in LA, your dress was ruined,” he started to explain the nature of the gift, “You seemed to really like it, right?” 

“I did,” you thought back to that night.

“Well, I bought you a new one,” he grabbed a dress bag from behind his desk.

“Rossi, this dress is $450,” you were shocked.

“And?” he handed you the dress and walked toward the door.

“I can’t accept this,” you were smiling ear to ear.

He opened the door, “You can and you will.” You walked out of the room but waited for Rossi before continuing along, “Besides, you can wear it on your date with Reid.”

“What?” you were stunned by the brazen comment, Reid hadn’t asked you out. You hoped Rossi was quite enough that nobody heard him. If someone thought you two were dating, you could get fired. You walked down the stairs to the rest of the team. They all wanted to give you a hug, you returned all of their hugs. It was finally time to leave and go back home. Reid walked you to the elevator, he helped carry some of your stuff. 

“Hey, i was wondering, I know this is a bit out of the blue,” He started to ramble, “would you maybe want to go on a date with me sometime?”

“Of course I would,” the elevator door opened and you entered with all your stuff. Reid waved bye as the doors closed.  _ Holy shit, is Rossi a psychic? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took so long, I had writer's block.


	12. I had all and then most of you Some and now none of you Take me back to the night we met

You and Spencer’s first date was tonight. At work, for the past week, you and Reid would sneakily catch each other’s eye. You both decided that telling the team wasn’t the best idea. You would eventually tell them, you just wanted to be sure this would work before getting their hopes up. You had planned for a date for two weeks prior but that was interrupted by a case.

“Hey,” Reid and you were leaving the office at the same time that night. “ I’ll be at your apartment around 7.”

“How fancy should I dress?” Reid wouldn’t tell you where he was taking you.

“I would say pretty fancy,” he smirked in your direction. 

“Can you please tell me where we’re going?” You pleaded, you hated surprises.

“Nope,” he put emphasis on the P. 

The elevator doors opened and you walked out, “I guess I’ll assume you’re going to kidnap me then,” you turned to him and shrugged. You walked off and heard him scoff. 

When you got to your car, you squealed like a little girl. You were finally going on a date with him. You had been hoping this would happen since you joined the team a month ago. You quickly drove to your apartment to get ready. You took a shower to wash off the sweat from work today. You were going to wear the dress that Rossi gave you and the shoes you’d bought. Your makeup was very glam and your hair was curled. 

The doorbell interrupted you putting on your makeup. You were simply in a robe, you hadn’t put your dress on yet. You opened the door to see Spencer standing in a suit with a bouquet of roses, “You look nice.” 

“These are for you,” he handed you the pink roses.

The roses smelled like heaven, “these are my favorite, how did you know?” 

“I heard you talking about them to Garcia,” he stood there with a smile on his face.

“Oh, come in, I'm sorry,” you had completely forgotten that you were still in a robe. “I haven’t finished getting ready yet.”

“I’m a little early,” he walked inside and looked around your apartment.

You gestured to the couch, “Make yourself comfortable, I should be done in a minute.” You walked back to your bedroom but left the door open. You felt bad for leaving him by himself for so long. You were done with your makeup in the next five minutes. You put on your dress and entered the living room, “Are you ready?” He seemed to jump when you entered.

“You look...wow,” he was completely flustered with your appearance.

“Thank you,” you grabbed your keys and your gun.

“Right this way,” he opened the door for you, he followed you out and you locked the door. The two of you walked down the hallway and to your car. He gave you directions while you drove. You eventually arrived at Masseria in downtown DC. 

“Reservation for Spencer,” he told the hostess.

She looked up his name in her tablet, “Right this way, sir,” she grabbed two menus and led you to your table. 

Reid pulled your chair out for you, “thank you,” you sat down and he walked to the other side of the table. The waitress set the menus on the table and offered the two of you wine, you both declined. Eventually, the two of you ordered your food. He ordered the steak and you ordered the ravioli. During the dinner, you two made conversation. You talked about your time so far at Quantico and how you were liking the job, you talked about what you both studied in college. The waitress came back and asked if you would like dessert and you both declined. By nine, Reid was ready to go. He paid the check and you left. 

You started the car and were starting to go back to your apartment but Reid gave you instructions to a different place. In the heart of DC, he had you pull over and park the car. You were outside of a little ice cream shop. 

“I figured you would want to get dessert for less than $100,” he smiled as you got out of the car. 

You pointed at his suit, “aren’t we a little overdressed?”

“Who cares?” he walked over to the driver’s side and offered you his elbow. You interlocked your arm with his. 

You walked into the little ice cream parlor and strolled along the counter for a bit. They had 20 flavors by your count. “Can I have three scoops of the chocolate chip cookie dough?” You asked the older man working the counter, he nodded at your request and started to make your order. You walked over to the cash register and pulled out your credit card. 

“I’ll have three scoops of the pistachio,” Reid pointed at the green ice cream.

“Coming right up,” the old man put your ice cream by the cash register and started to work on your order. It didn’t take him long to come back to the cash register where Reid had joined you. 

“Is that for here or to go?” The man looked at you two for a response. 

You opened your mouth to speak but Reid beat you to it, “to go.”

“Alright, that’ll be $10,” you handed the man your credit card. Reid went to grab his wallet but you stopped him before he could. 

You two grabbed your ice cream and got back into the car. You handed him your ice cream and started your car. He gave you more directions that eventually lead you to a hill overlooking all of DC. 

“Wow,” you stopped the car and admired the view for a minute before you heard Reid’s door open. You too got out of the car and followed him, he still had your ice cream in hand. You both walked to a part of the overlook where you could sit down. He handed you your ice cream and you both started to eat. 

“Truth or dare?” he asked you. 

“Truth,” you smiled at his game.

“How many boyfriends have you had?”

You cleared your throat, “one,” that was a really odd question for him to ask. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” he smiled. 

“Who is your favorite among the team?” You wanted to know who he felt safe with. 

“Morgan, he’s always had my back,” he seemed choked up about it. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Really?”

You scoffed at his reply, “My friends and I played this a lot in college, you don’t want to know some of the things I did.”

“Alright then,” he smiled, “I dare you to eat the biggest scoop of ice cream you can.”

“That’s it?” It was kind of a stupid dare, “Ok,” you took a giant spoonful of ice cream and put it in your mouth. He was looking for you to get a brain freeze and you did, but you had trained yourself to not show a reaction to those sorts of things.

“Really? No reaction,” he seemed surprised at your straight face.

You finished eating your giant spoonful, “I don’t react to brain freezes,” you took another bite, “or lemon juice.”

“The phenomenon of a brain freeze is common enough to have been the subject of research published in the  _ British Medical Journal _ and  _ Scientific American _ . A study conducted by Maya Kaczorowski demonstrated a higher incidence of headache in subjects consuming an ice cream sample quickly, in less than 5 seconds, vs. those who consumed slowly, taking longer than 30 seconds, 27% and 12%, respectively,” he started to ramble.

“Reid,” you snapped him out of his rambling, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“What is your deepest darkest fear?” you leaned toward him.

“I guess it would be not being able to help people,” his face reflected feelings of sadness, “I’ve been trying to help people since I was young, and if I couldn’t do that I don’t know what I would do with my life.”

“That’s deep,” you laid down on the grass and looked up at the stars.

“Truth or Dare?” he laid down with his head next to yours but his feet in the opposite direction.

“Truth,” you sighed, the stars made you feel safe, that along with Spencer.

“What is your biggest regret?”

“I went on a trip in 2003 and while I was gone my grandma died,” a tear rolled down your cheek. “Before I left my dad told me that I could either stay and watch her die or go on the trip.”

“I’m sorry,” He turned to look at you. “My dad left me and my mom when I was younger.”

You turned to look at him, “I’m sorry.” You felt a hand running through your hair. The two of you laid there and watched the stars for an hour or so, “Reid, stand up.” The two of you stood up.

“What’s wrong?” he was really nervous, after all, you were so peaceful before.

You walked over to your car and started it, “nothing’s wrong,” you gestured for him to go back to the spot where the two of you were laying down. You connected your phone to the Bluetooth and started to play ‘In the wee small hours of the morning’ by Frank Sinatra.

“What are you doing?” He had a smile on his face.

“I’ve always wanted to do this,” you walked up to him and wrapped your arms around his neck.

He wrapped his arms around your waist and the two of you started to sway back and forth. You rested your head on his chest. The two of you danced for what seemed like a minute but it was really two hours. The fact that your car battery didn’t die was shocking. Eventually, you two laid down on the ground. You put your head on his chest and he ran his fingers through your hair.

“There’s Orion's belt,” he pointed up at the sky.

“Cassiopeia,” you pointed at the W shaped constellation.

“Perseus.”

“Taurus,” this was a competition now.

“Gemini.”

“Auriga,” you pointed.

“Canis Major.”

“Pyxis,”  _ I took astronomy class. _

“Antilla.”

“Corvus,” you now see why people say that you’re too competitive.

“Crater.”

“Virgo,” your star sign.

“Libra.”

“Serpens Caput.”

“Hercules.

“Lyra,” this one was harder to find.

“Cepheus.”

“Ursa Minor”

“Ursa Major.

“Camelopardalis.”

“Lynx.”

You pointed at the stick figure, “Cancer.”

“Hydra.”

“Sextans.”

“Leo.”

“Leo Minor.”

“Bootes.”

“Draco.”

“Canas Venatici.”

“Alright,” you sat up from his chest, “you win.”

“Are you ready to go home?”

You yawned, “Yeah, it’s getting late.”

He stood up and offered you his hand to help you stand up, “I’ll drive.” He held his hands out for the keys.

“Thank you,” you yawned again and tossed him the keys. You got into the passenger seat. The drive down the hill was uneventful. Spencer would look over at you every once in a while. Eventually, you fell asleep in the car. Spencer noticed this and turned the radio down. He smiled at your sleeping self. When he got to your apartment, he parked the car and walked over to the passenger side. He grabbed you and carried you bridal style up to your apartment. When you woke up you were in the elevator, still in Spencer’s arms. He smiled down at you and you snuggled into his chest. When he got to your door, he set you on your feet. You grabbed your keys and opened the door.

“Thank you for tonight,” you gave him a sleepy smile.

“Thank you for being a wonderful person to take on a date,” he smiled at you and started to walk down the hall.

“Hey, Spence,” he turned around at the sound of your voice. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” he started to walk back to you, standing in your doorway.

“Kiss me,” you stood up straight. You felt his lips hit yours and you immediately closed your eyes and wrapped your arms around his neck. You stayed in the passionate kiss for about three minutes, before he pulled away.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” Reid started to walk down the hallway toward the elevator. You entered your apartment and fell on your couch, completely dazed from the magical experience.


	13. I'm sick of, sick of, sick of, sick of chasing You're the one that's always running through my daydream, I I can only see your face when I close my eyes

After that night, you and Spencer returned to work and pretended like everything was normal. One day he had flowers delivered for you at the office. When you came in for work that morning, a giant bouquet of red and pink roses was sitting on your desk. Prentiss, Morgan, JJ, and Reid were all standing around them, “looks like someone’s got a secret admirer,” Morgan teased.

  
You set your stuff down and grabbed the note from inside the flowers, “Truth or Dare?” you read aloud. You picked up the flowers and examined them, “they’re beautiful,” you glanced at Reid who smiled at you.

  
“In ancient Greece, roses were associated with the goddess Aphrodite,” Reid started to go on a tangent. “Red roses are often associated with love and passion, whereas pink roses are associated with admiration.”

  
“Do you have any idea who they could be from?” Prentiss asked.

  
“No, I haven’t been seeing anyone lately,” you examined the note further.

  
“We can have Garcia look into it,” Morgan offered.

  
If Garcia wanted to she could learn that these were from Reid, “I don’t think that’s necessary,” you tried to deflect any notion that you know who sent them. “Besides, I don’t really want to know.”

  
“Guys we’ve got a case,” Hotch got the team’s attention and you all walked into the conference room together. The case was a cut and dry serial killer in the Midwest. They caught him in two days. On the flight back, Rossi asked you about the roses. You brushed it off as from a secret admirer. He gave you that look, the one that says ‘I know you’re breaking the rules by dating Reid,’ that one.

  
The weekend after the case, you and Reid spent that Saturday hopping between the Smithsonian’s. Every time you went into a new museum, Reid would have a fact for almost everything in the museum. The rest of the team found it annoying when he would ramble, but you thought it was cute. That night you got to see his apartment for the first time. He put on a movie and you two cuddled on his couch. You fell asleep on him halfway through the movie. He woke you up at the end and you apologized for falling asleep. You said your goodbyes and got in your car to head home. The next three months went along similarly. Every time either of you was put in danger on a case the other would worry profusely but would try to hide it from the rest of the team. One time, there was a bomb in a senator’s house. You were the one who discovered it. After that case, Reid visited you at your apartment. He greeted you with a hug that lasted for a solid twenty minutes. You told him numerous times that you were fine, but that didn’t stop him from worrying. Sometimes, you would bake for him. You made chocolate chip cookies, lemon madeleines, cakes, strawberry shortcake, cinnamon rolls, and other things of the sort. You brought chocolate chip cookies in for the team and Reid accidentally told the team you’d made them before him. He covered for it though by correcting himself to just any chocolate chip cookie.

  
Each weekend you would go on a date if there wasn’t a case of course. Unfortunately, there were more weekends with cases than those without. Within three months, you had been to 14 different states. You saw more dead bodies in three months than you’d ever wish to see in your life, but that was part of the job. If Reid noticed that it was starting to get to you, he would find time to pull you aside and let you cry or scream in his arms until you felt better. You felt bad. He had been exposed to this so much that it didn’t bother him. It was hard to be there for him when there was nothing for you to comfort him after.

  
Your relationship had its ups and downs just like any couple would. Your first big fight was in your apartment. You can’t remember what it was about, that’s how stupid it was. Reid ended up storming out of your apartment and you cried in your bed for the rest of the night. When you got to work the next morning there was a bouquet of sunflowers on your desk. The note attached to it said, “I’m sorry.” Reid didn’t leave your side that whole day.

  
One day when there wasn’t a case, the team all went out for lunch together. They ended up making jokes about how you and Reid would be a perfect match for each other. All you could do was laugh along and say how crazy their idea was. Everyone noticed how whenever you and Reid would work together, something was different. You would always bump into him by accident, and he would always accidentally touch your hand. Eventually, Morgan confronted you and Reid about your behavior. During the interrogation, you kept a straight face and lied right through your teeth, Reid did the same. Frankly, you didn’t think it would be so easy to convince them you weren’t dating.  
Reid asked you to be his girlfriend on your fifth date. Naturally, you said yes. The next day you had a case in New York. Reid sprained his ankle running after the unsub. He was able to walk it off, but that didn’t stop you from making him see a doctor when you got back to DC. The first three months of your secret relationship were the best months of your life. Everything you had in your body knew that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with him. Every bone, muscle, ligament, told you that you were meant to marry this man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter, but I think you guys will like the next chapter ;)
> 
> I also decided on my plan for this story. It's going to be 20 chapters, but I am going to write a sequel.


	14. I know that life is pretty fucking short so Will you dance with me on my bedroom floor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I re-wrote the ending because I realized that I didn't write the start of 'Hit' correctly.
> 
> Also, to my friend reading this, skip to the end.

You invited Reid over to your apartment for a movie night, you had wanted to start watching the Star Wars movies with him. He came over with Chinese food from your favorite local restaurant, “Thank you for bringing the food,” you opened the door for him.

He set the bag on your coffee table and pulled a long box out of his pocket, “I got you a gift,” he handed you the box.

“Spence, you shouldn’t have,” you opened the box to see a diamond necklace. “It’s beautiful,” you took it out of the box and examined it in your hand.

“May I?” He pointed to the necklace you nodded and handed it to him. You turned with your back to him and moved your hair out of the way. He wrapped his arm around your neck and put the necklace on for you. You turned back and started to fidget with the necklace. You leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. He looked at your lips and you looked at him before leaning in and kissing him again, this time with more passion. You rocked into the kiss. You felt his hand tangled in your hair.

You moved your leg so that you were straddling his lap. He put his hands on your hips, never breaking out of the kiss. You started to unbutton his shirt, and you placed your hands on his chest. You ran your fingers along his chest muscles. He was a lot beefier than you thought he would be. 

His hands ran up and down your sides eventually grabbing the ends of your shirt and pulling it over your head. You finished with the buttons on his shirt and slipped it off his arms. He ran his fingers down to your legs. He flipped you on your back so that he was on top. Your hands lingered down to his belt. You took his belt off and threw it to the side. Unbuttoning his pants, you heard a moan escape his lips. He stood up and finished taking off his pants. 

He positioned himself on top of you and placed kisses along your jaw and down your neck. He lingered on your neck for a bit. When his kisses became more like biting you moaned into his ear, and you felt him smile while still kissing you. 

He finished up with your neck and continued kissing down your body. He paused for a minute to just stare at you and admire all your curves and how perfect you looked. When he returned to kissing your stomach he started to undo the buttons on your shorts. He slid them off and threw them to where the rest of your clothes were. 

This was one of the first times that you two had seen each other naked. Every time he looked somewhere other than your eyes, it would take him a second to snap back into reality. You placed a soft kiss on his lips and he returned it. You reached down and pulled his boxers down enough for him to break free. He grabbed the hem of your panties and pulled them down.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He hesitantly asked before entering, you nodded. He positioned himself at your entrance and slid in.

“Fuck,” you moaned at the feeling.

“Are you okay?” He stopped moving and waited for a response, you simply nodded.

He continued to thrust in and out of you, each time bringing you closer to climaxing. Eventually, you tipped over the edge and came around his cock. He came soon after. He breathed heavily on your neck before pulling out of you. 

“That was amazing,” he got off of you and walked over to where you two had thrown your clothes. He pulled his boxers back on. You got up from the couch, still dazed and went to your bedroom to change. You put on a tank top and shorts.

When you entered your living room again Spencer was sitting on the couch eating his lo mein noodles, “So what movie are we watching?” he asked with a mouthful of food.

“The Phantom Menace,” you grabbed a soda from the fridge, “Do you want anything to drink?” 

“I’m ok,” he shouted back at you. 

You shut the fridge and went back to the couch. You set your drink down and went to put the DVD in the player. Spence had grabbed a blanket for you and put it on your lap when you sat down. You grabbed the remote and your chicken and started the movie. WIthing seconds the Star Wars theme was ringing through your apartment. You finished your food quickly and cuddled into Spencer. 

“This movie sucks,” he whispered while kissing the top of your head.

You looked up at him, “I know.” 

This time he was the first one to fall asleep. You stayed up and watched all of the action, you started to cry when Qui-Gon died. When the movie ended, you carefully got up and changed the DVD. It was almost midnight, but that wasn’t going to stop you from watching Attack of the Clones. You had turned the volume down earlier to let Spencer sleep. You thought he was going to wake up, but he was just readjusting. 

After the movie you turned off the TV and snuggled closer to Spencer, eventually falling asleep. When you woke up, you were in your bed and your clock said it was 7. There was some noise coming from your kitchen so you carefully went to check it out, “Spence, you scared me.” Reid was standing in your kitchen making you breakfast.

“Sorry,” he was holding a spatula and wearing one of the aprons you kept around. “I didn’t know how you liked your eggs, so I made scrambled.”

“Lucky for you I love scrambled eggs,” you walked over to your breakfast bar and pulled out one of the stools.

“I present eggs a la Spencer,” he put a plate with eggs, sausage, and hash browns in front of you. 

“Thank you,” you grabbed a fork and started to eat them. “These are really good,” you had to resist shoveling it all in your mouth at once.

“I’m glad you like it.” He made a plate for himself and came to sit next to you. “I have to go soon, I was supposed to go to a convention with Garcia today.”

“Which one?” you took another bite of your eggs.

“The sci-fi one downtown,” he was starting to gather some of his stuff.

You put your plate in the sink, “have fun.”

“What are you doing today?” He finished packing and went back to the kitchen.

“I’m probably going to watch TV or something.”

“Have fun,” he kissed you on your forehead and headed for the door.

“Call me later,” you shouted after your boyfriend.

“Will do,” he closed the door, leaving you by yourself. 

You cleaned up the mess he made in the kitchen and went for the couch. The movie from last night started playing when you turned the TV on. You browsed through the menu for a while before deciding to watch Iron Man. You only watched one hour of the movie before your phone started ringing. “Hey Hotch,” you greeted your boss.

“Hey, we need you at the Colonial Liberty bank ASAP,” He sounded frantic.


	15. I need help and I don't know what to do Cause whenever your around it just feels true

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season 7, Episode 23 "Hit"

“What’s wrong?” you asked.

“There is a robbery in progress, they have hostages,” you heard sirens along with his voice.

“I’ll be there in 20.” You hung up the phone and raced to your bedroom to change. You closed the door and put on a pair of black jeans and a t-shirt. You put your hair up and put on some basic makeup. You grabbed your keys, badge, and gun. Luckily, traffic was light and you got to the bank in ten minutes. When you got there Reid was already there, along with Rossi, Morgan, and Hotch. He handed you a bulletproof vest and you put it on quickly. 

When JJ and Prentiss arrived, Hotch started to explain what was happening, “The media's calling them the Face Cards. 7 bank robberies in 7 months. They've killed one person at each robbery.”

Everyone followed Hotch as he walked toward the mobile command center, “M. O.?” Rossi asked.

“Single gunshot wound. Each of the victims has bled out,” Hotch continued. 

“Serial killers with a 30-day cooling-off period and we're only just hearing about this now?” you asked. 

“Well, headquarters has always characterized them robbers first and killers second,” Hotch was the team’s connection to the top of the food chain.

“No one kills 7 people without serious psychopathic tendencies,” JJ added.

“I disagreed with the original assessment. I was overruled,” Hotch explained.

“So why are we here now?” you asked

“Because crisis negotiation is overseas,” Hotch opened the door for the mobile command center and went inside.

Everyone followed into the MCC, “What more do we know about them?” Reid asked 

“They're organized, they're efficient. Each strike lasts about 2 minutes,” Hotch explained.

“They gotta be scouting the banks in advance. Why haven't we been able to I. D. Them off of surveillance footage?” Morgan asked.

“They hack the security feed and turn off the cameras, both during the initial canvass and during the robbery, until the masks come back on, and then we're allowed to watch,” Garcia, who was sitting at the computer in the MCC, explained.

“They're using the hostages as human shields,” Rossi pointed at the screens. 

“This is the first time they've been interrupted. What went wrong?” JJ asked.

“It's a big bank. It's possible they weren't about to round everybody up before someone triggered an alarm,” Prentiss noted.

“Why haven't they cut the feed now that they've been cornered? Letting us see inside gives up a tactical advantage. They gotta know that,” you pointed out. 

“They don't seem to care,” Hotch sighed.

“They're overconfident. Arrogant, even,” JJ leaned into the video monitors.

“The face card masks add to their narcissism. Their personas are the royalty of poker,” Reid pointed out. 

“JJ, Reid, and Prentiss, look at past robberies. That's gonna be our victimology. Pull another analyst if you need to,” Reid gave your hand a squeeze before leaving with JJ and Prentiss. “Dave and Y/N, I want you to handle negotiations. And, Morgan, strategize tactical options with MPD,” Hotch ordered the team around. When he was done you saw an older blonde woman walk in. “Chief Strauss,” Hotch greeted her. 

“The Director ordered me to supervise your operation,” she said. 

“Puts you right in the spotlight,” Rossi scoffed.

“Well, you've got gunmen with hostages in the Capital. The Hill's concerned,” she explained. 

“We're about to open lines of communication,” Hotch looked at her.

“What about a tactical assault?” she asked.

“I don't think it's a good idea. There are hostages in front of the doors and windows,” Rossi explained.

“What's your negotiation strategy?” she questioned. 

“The Jack's bleeding out. They'll ask for medical attention,” Rossi explained.

“The female unsub might have something to say about that,” Hotch noted.

“Look at her body language,” Rossi pointed at the screens.

“Mm. She is cold and detached. The King seems genuinely concerned about his partner's welfare. But she couldn't give a damn,” you added. 

“The men probably know each other. Garcia?” Hotch asked. 

“Yes. Shuffling my technofabulous deck of databases, sir,” she started to type on her computer.

Rossi turned to leave and you followed him. He walked over to a tent set up in the street and started to dial a number. You grabbed the headset from next to the phone.

“Who the hell's this?” you heard an irritated voice say over the phone. 

“My name is David Rossi. I'm with the FBI. To whom am I speaking?” Rossi explained to the man. You realized that he was speaking with one of the robber’s.

“All right, I want a doctor sent in, and then I want out of here,” the man demanded.

“Well, we certainly can discuss that. Let the hostages go and we'll give you all the medical help you need,” Rossi tried to reason with the man.

“I can't do that. I need the leverage,” the man laughed.

“How about a sign of good faith? Send out the women and children and I'll see what I can do,” Rossi kept his voice calm. 

“He's trying to negotiate,” the man wasn’t talking to Rossi anymore.

“Negotiate?” a woman said from the other side. “We're not playing games,” she was louder this time. 

“No, no, no, please! Daddy!” A little girl screamed from the other side. 

“Either we get what we want or everyone in this room dies,” the man demanded.

“Do that and you get nothing,” Rossi was more stern this time. 

“Take me instead. Please. Take me. It's ok, baby,” you flinched at the sound of a gunshot.

“Oh! Aah! Daddy!” the little girl screamed.

“You better send in some help or more people are gonna die,” the robber hung up. You took off your headset and looked at Rossi. 

Strauss walked over, “We're sending in a medic.” 

“That's just gonna give them another hostage,” Hotch walked over at the same time, along with Garcia.

“If they stop shooting people, it's worth it,” she explained.

“If we give in to one demand, we'll have to give in to them all,” Hotch argued.

“The Director disagrees,” she tried to reason with the three of you. 

“At least make it an Agent with medical training. That way he can take advantage of an opportunity if it comes,” Rossi negotiated. 

“Fine,” Strauss sighed and walked away 

“The brass thinks they'll act rationally, but there's no evidence of that,” Hotch whispered to Rossi.

“This is personal for the men. The King could have run after the initial gunfight, but he didn't. Instead, he pulled the partner inside out of harm's way. And stayed with him, while the woman searched the bank, presumably for a way out. He's more worried about the partner than he is about her running away,” you tried to make sense of everything they were doing.

“Garcia, narrow your search. I think the male unsubs might even be related,” Hotch turned to the blonde.

“Roger that,” she walked away quickly.

“What do we do now?” you turned to Rossi. 

“We wait,” He turned to look at the bank.

You and Rossi watched the area and all of the chaos. You could see Morgan talking to a medic. When the medic went toward the bank, Morgan walked over to you, Rossi, and Hotch. 

“We’re sending in the medic now, Chris,” Rossi talked with the man on the other line. “Tell Oliver help is on the way,” He hung up. The four of you watched the medic on a monitor set up by the phone, “This is not good, Hotch,” Rossi warned.

“Morgan, tell Green to make a move,” Hotch commanded.

Morgan leant into his walkie-talkie, “Green, you gotta go man. You gotta make a move.”

You watched the medic on the screen reach for his bag and try to pull his gun. Unfortunately the unsub caught on and shot Green twice in the chest before shooting him square in the head. Watching the agent get shot put all of you on edge. Strauss walked back to your tent.

“The director has ordered a full tactical assault,” she sighed.

“His last orders cost us an Agent,” Morgan retorted.

“SWAT's getting itchy fingers,” a detective said. 

“You remind SWAT that bank robberies are federal jurisdiction. No one fires until they're ordered to,” Hotch commanded. 

“Right,” the detective walked away.

“All right, when the crossfire starts, what's gonna happen to the hostages caught in the middle?” Rossi asked. 

“That's the wrong call, Erin, and you know it,” Hotch turned to her. 

“It's not my call,” she tried to shift the blame from herself.

“You're here and you're in charge,” Hotch reasoned. 

“So you want me to disobey the Director?” Strauss seemed offended.

“Yes,” Morgan pleaded.

“No,” Hotch corrected. “I just want you to buy us a little time. Don't be quite so efficient.” Strauss walked away.

“Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast,” Rossi whispered to Hotch. 

“All right. Reasoning with them is still our best option,” Hotch was stressed, you could see it in his body language.

“That'll be difficult. Chris just lost his brother and murdered someone in retaliation,” Rossi explained.

“We're dealing with two killers now,” you added.

“We have problems, sirs,” Garcia rushed to the four of you. “Outside nefarious sources have hacked into the surveillance feeds. I'm trying to I. D. them now. At least a couple of them are media outlets.”

“Can you block them?” Hotch asked. 

“No, not without blocking ourselves, too, sir,” she explained. She walked away.

“Call JJ and them,” Hotch told Rossi.

The detective and Morgan came back over by the time JJ answered the phone.

“What if the smaller banks were training runs from the Stratton brothers?” Hotch asked.

“Well, it could be. She took two relatively amateur thugs and turned them into an elite team of efficient bank robbers,” Morgan added.

“But why? To turn them into patsies? 

“All right, ok, so let's look at it. Up until now they've been highly organized, striking only on deposit days, when the most amount of cash is on hand,” Prentiss noted. 

“But today's different. It's their first Saturday hit, where families are present, more foot traffic throughout the day,” Reid explained. 

“It's a riskier attack,” you added.

“We should consider the media attention, too,” JJ reminded. 

“It's the first time they've had an audience,” Rossi related.

“That might be why the female unsub is so vain. She wants to look good for the cameras,” Prentiss explained. 

“She searches the bank but doesn't actually look for a means of escape. She appears to be almost enjoying the situation,” Rossi noted. 

“We know the brothers are in it for the money. What's she in it for?” Hotch asked. JJ hangup and everyone got back to work.

Rossi picked up the phone and dialed into the bank, you grabbed the headset to listen in on the call, “How do you want to end this, Chris?”

“I want out of here,” he was frantic. 

“How do you propose to do that?” Rossi asked. 

“I want an armored truck and a plane with a clear flight path to Switzerland,” he demanded.

“No, no, no. Chad,” the queen interrupted. “We want to go to Chad.” 

“Yeah. No agents with guns this time. We'll fly ourselves,” the call ended.

“That was weird,” you looked at Rossi who also noticed the odd nature of the call.

“I’ll call Prentiss and them,” Rossi walked away, leaving you by yourself.

You figured he went to talk to Hotch when you saw an armored call roll in front of the bank. Rossi, Morgan, Hotch, and the detective walked over to you a few minutes later. 

“Hi, I’m Y/N Y/L/N,” you held your hand out to the detective. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“William LaMontange Jr.” He returned your handshake.

“Enough pleasantries,” Hotch snapped. “These guys were too good to get caught, so why did they?”

“911 received a call alerting them to a robbery in progress,” Will added.

“Actually, it was a text. D. C. add 911 messaging after the Virginia Tech students texts went unanswered during the massacre,” Garcia’s voice came through the phone Hotch set down earlier.

“Can you trace it, Garcia?” Hotch asked.

“Yeah. The message was sent from a cell phone that is currently inside the bank and was registered to a Larry Phillips Jr.” she finished tracing the phone incredibly fast.

“Why does that name sound familiar?” Strauss said from Garcia’s side of the call.

“That's the name of one of the gunmen from the '97 North Hollywood bank shootout in California,” Rossi explained.

“So is this an homage?” you asked.

“Guys, that text was sent 30 seconds before they blacked out the security feeds for entry,” Garcia noted. 

“How is that possible?” Morgan was pacing.

“It didn't come from a hostage. It came from one of the robbers,” Rossi added. 

“She wanted us here,” you added.

“Garcia, get JJ and Prentiss down here,” Hotch ordered. “We’re going in.”

“What about Reid?” Garcia asked.

“Have him keep working from Quantico,” Hotch walked away.

After twenty minutes you hadn’t heard anything from the unsubs, but the queen was still walking around the bank. Eventually you saw JJ and Prentiss walk into the scene. They walked over to Morgan and Will, who were looking at maps on the hood of a police car. Rossi and Hotch were in the MCC with Garcia and Strauss. You saw Rossi leave the MCC and walk toward you. He picked up the phone and dialed a number. You grabbed the headset from the monitor and put them on.

“You know my favorite card in poker, Chris?” Rossi asked.

“What's that?” The unsub sounded cold.

“The wild card,” Rossi answered.

“I don't believe in wild cards. They dumb down the game,” Chris retorted.

“Well, I couldn't agree with you more, but, uh, in this case, you're the one that's dumb,” Rossi sending Chris insults surprised you.

“This your new negotiation tactic, insulting me?” He sounded offended.

“Oh, it's not a tactic. It's a fact. Didn't you wonder why you got caught, what went wrong when you did everything right? We got a message from someone in the bank before you started shooting,” Rossi explained.

“Impossible,” Chris sounded shocked.

“Now, I know it wasn't you, and I'm hoping it wasn't your brother. So, who does that leave?” Rossi pushed. Prentiss walked over to join you two. 

“You're lying,” he scoffed.

“Ask her,” Rossi persuaded him 

“Did you call the police?” He started to talk to the queen. 

“Is that what they're telling you?” She laughed.

“That's not an answer,” pointed out.

“Of course not. What do you think? They're trying to turn us against one another,” she was right about that. 

“Why would you even do that? Olly's dead 'cause of that,” his voice dropped. 

“I wouldn't. I'm trapped here, too,” she sounded offended that Chris would even think that she would turn against him. 

“Are you lying to me?” You saw Chris put a gun to the girl’s head. 

“We've come too far for you to start doubting me now. Lost too much. Hey. Hey... Don't let them tear us apart right as we're about to win. If you do that, Olly's death won't mean anything,” she was caressing his face.

“Enough. I'm done talking to you. I want to talk to someone who won't jerk me around face to face,” Chris became very hostile toward Rossi.

“No more Feds,” she cooed into the phone.

“I want to talk to the cop who shot my brother,” Chris demanded and hung up. Rossi looked at you before walking toward Hotch, who had joined Will and Morgan. You followed behind along with Prentiss who was just as shocked as you were.

“Chris wants us to send Will in,” Rossi explained when he reached the group.

“No. No, forget it,” JJ was quick to decide.

“JJ, if it means we can end this…” Will pleaded.

“What makes you think he won't shoot you the minute you walk inside?” JJ added.

“Look, he wants out of there just as much as we want him out,” Will protested.

“It's not happening. Forget it,” JJ continued. 

“There's no guarantee he won't retaliate for the death of his brother,” Hotch chimed in.

“I know you'd do it if you were me,” Will argued.

“Will, I get what you're feeling, but you are too close to this case to make that call,” Morgan noted.

“You're damn right I'm close. 4 people are dead because I shot his brother. And no one else needs to die 'cause of what I did,” Will was very heated at this point.

“This isn't about you,” Morgan was quick to point out. 

“Risking your life won't bring them back,” JJ calmed him down quickly. 

“Sorry, Will,” Hotch sounded genuinely sorry. “Get him back on the phone,” Hotch turned to you and Rossi. The two of you were quick to scurry away back to the phone. Rossi picked it up and called the bank.

“Where's that cop, huh? I ain't got all day,” Chris shouted into the phone.

“What you're asking is difficult,” Rossi explained. 

“Well, I'll make it easy. Send in the cop, I'll let a couple hostages go. A sign of good faith. Isn't that what you said?” Chris was finally willing to negotiate.

“Releasing the hostages is a great first step in resolving this conflict, but we can't send someone else in to be killed,” Rossi explained.

“This ain't a friggin' debate,” You heard the phone hang up, but Rossi didn’t move it from his ear yet. That’s when the call picked up again. 

“It's... It's Shawn Harper,” a new person spoke. Within seconds there was a gunshot and screaming from the other hostages

“Ucch. You just killed Shawn Harper. Not me, you. I'm gonna shoot another hostage every 60 seconds until you send in the cop.” You heard the phone hang up.

The phone picked up again, “Annie. It's Annie,” you heard a woman sobbing over the phone.

“You hang in there, Annie. Help is on the way,” Rossi tried to calm her down. 

“You got about 30 seconds, Annie. I hope Agent Rossi doesn't make me shoot you, too,” the phone hung up.

“Y/N!” You heard Hotch shouting from the police car where JJ, Prentiss, Morgan, and Will were. You quickly ran over to meet him. “Have you noticed anything weird about this?” He explained. While he was talking to you Will walked away. You thought he was going to check in with SWAT, but when he started to walk toward the building you knew what was happening.

“What is he doing?” JJ asked. “No, no, no!” She shouted. Morgan had to hold her by her waist to stop her from approaching the bank. “Morgan, let me go!” She was kicking and screaming. Eventually she stopped fighting. You saw a woman and two children leaving the bank. There were two shots fired from inside the bank. JJ started to cry. Hotch had all of you move into the MCC. 

“Did you see where he was shot?” JJ asked. “Is he alive or dead Garcia?”

“I don’t know,” Garcia looked just as torn up as JJ.

“He was wearing a vest. He might be ok,” Prentiss tried to give her some comfort

“Might be,” JJ scoffed.

“They're not answering,” Rossi said as he came to join you guys. 

“All right, we need to get inside,” JJ stood up. 

“JJ, it's too risky. We don't have eyes in there anymore,” Morgan explained.

“Aaron…” JJ pleaded. No one ever called him Aaron. 

“Let's go in,” Hotch agreed, “but you’re staying out here.” He told JJ. “We can send Morgan, Prentiss, and Y/N in.” Everyone rushed out of the small room. Hotch quickly got the SWAT team together. 

You and Morgan took the front, Prentiss was going around to the side. Right before you were about to breach, all of the hostages came out of the building. 

Morgan leaned into his com, “Going in,” he told Hotch. 

You grabbed onto the back of your SWAT member and started to make your way to the building, but before you could get inside, you had all the wind knocked out of you as you were pushed to the ground by an explosion.


	16. You left your diary at my house And I read those pages, do you really love me, baby

When you regained consciousness, you were greeted by Morgan who was standing over you. You could tell he was talking to you, but you couldn’t make out what he was saying. There was a ringing noise in your ear, it was nauseating. Morgan gestured for someone to come over to you. You looked around and saw panic. Everyone was running around. There were three SWAT agents that you could see, they too were laying on the ground. Hotch came over to help you too. The ringing was starting to go down, you could hear sirens and vaguely what Hotch was saying. 

“Where’s Emily?” you asked Hotch. 

He looked around for a second, “I think Morgan went to find her. Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine,” you stood up. You looked around at the chaos and saw Rossi exiting the MCC. You hobbled over there, “What the hell happened?”

“They set off a bomb,” Rossi pointed out the obvious.

“But where did they go? They weren’t going to kill themselves,” you clarified.

“I’ll worry about that, you get your leg looked at,” he walked toward Hotch who was waiting for Morgan and Emily to come out. Your leg had been cut in the explosion, but you had so much adrenaline you couldn’t feel it.

You limped over to a paramedic who bandaged your leg. When he was done, you went to see if there was anything you could help with. Hotch and Strauss were briefing some cops on what they needed to do. Rossi was talking to reporters. You found Garcia, who was listening in on what Hotch and Strauss were saying. You went and stood next to her. After listening for a few minutes you went back to wandering around. A few moments later you saw an SUV pulling up to the scene, so you went over to see who it was. 

Spencer jumped out and rushed over to you, “Y/N, thank goodness you’re okay,” he pulled you into a hug. When he let go of you he noticed how dirty your vest was and the bandage around your leg. “How close were you to the blast?”

“Pretty close,” your leg still hurt, but it was enough to bother you. 

He looked around for a few seconds, “I have to go and talk to Hotch.”

“I’ll come with you,” you volunteered. He didn’t protest, but you knew he didn’t like you being in danger. You both walked to find your boss who was looking over maps on the hood of a police car. 

“Y/N, are you feeling better?” He pointed at the bandage on your leg.

“I am, thank you, sir.”

“Alright, let’s get to work,” Hotch turned around and started rearranging the maps. “Morgan and JJ said that the blast created a hole between the underground vaults and these tunnels.”

“You know, most of these older banks are made of granite or limestone for longevity,” Reid pointed out.

“So she knew to use a combination of C-4 and semtex to open her escape route,” Hotch emphasized.

“The tunnels let out at multiple points running west. She could still be underground,” you added.

“I know. This is what she does. She probably waited till the last minute to exit. She wants to see all this chaos,” Hotch sighed.

“We need to find the tunnel exit closest to the bank,” Reid confirmed.

“Looks like it's two blocks here, just outside the perimeter,” Hotch pointed at the maps.

“Should we head over there?” you asked.

“No, JJ and Morgan are going to be there soon,” Hotch finished and walked back to the MCC. You and Reid followed him inside. Garcia and Kevin were working through the footage. Rossi and Strauss were talking in the corner, Hotch went over to join them. Prentiss came in right after the three of you. After a few minutes, Reid’s phone started to ring. He answered it and just said yes over and over again before hanging up. 

“That was JJ,” Reid out his phone back in his pocket. “she and Morgan said the unsubs were in an alley northwest of the perimeter. 

“Yeah, this footage confirms it. Ok, I can see two figures in the car. Please tell me one of them is Will,” Garcia pulled up footage of a black SUV. 

“See how she's turned. It's like she's keeping an eye on someone in the back,” Hotch pointed out.

“Does this mean Will's in the car?” Garcia asked.

“There's somebody back there,” Rossi sighed.

“What's the license plate?” Reid asked.

Garcia enhanced the image, “that's weird. They're government tags.” 

“Federal or district?” Reid probed.

“Federal,” Garcia added.

“Well, they're either stolen or forged,” Reid stood up straight. 

“Who the hell are these people?” Garcia sighed.

“They set up roadblocks in the district from 66 to Dulles,” Strauss added.

“Wait. So we're looking for a black SUV with its sirens on. That's gonna stand out,” Kevin joked.

“Will's with them. I found his wallet,” JJ said as she and Morgan entered the MCC.

“It benefits them to keep Will alive,” Hotch did his best to comfort her.

“They must have a safe house set up,” Morgan added.

“Whoever their outside man is, that's where they're heading now. But where?” you asked.

“What's their end game?” JJ added.

“There's no logical reason. They want to create panic,” Rossi reasoned.

“She's struck all over the world, which says she might not be American, but her ideology certainly speaks to Washington. Whatever point she and her partner are making, it's important that D. C.'s the setting,” Reid explained.

“The brothers were from Philadelphia. The other partner might be homegrown as well,” Prentiss noted.

“Homeland's sending over a list of possibilities,” Strauss tried to be helpful.

“They're not on anyone's list,” Hotch sighed.

“Then how do we find them?” Strauss snapped.

“We find the common denominators between all 14 robberies and we go from there,” Hotch explained 

“So she's our only answer,” you pointed at the woman on the screen.

“For now,” Hotch was getting angrier.

“I'll call Easter at Interpol again. Now that there's been an explosion, he might have some ideas,” Prentiss left the MCC.

“I have to call the director,” Strauss followed her out.

Morgan’s phone started to ring, “Yeah, ok, thank you.” He hung up. “That was the lab. Semtex and C-4 like we thought. Red, blue, yellow wires in each, and an old phone as a detonator.”

“How old is the phone?” you asked. 

“10 years,” Morgan sighed.

“That's specific and rare,” Reid added.

“Ridiculously,” Morgan laughed. 

“Well, has anyone seen it before?” Hotch asked.

“It was last seen in a number of bombings in Chad,” Morgan continued.

“For a signature that specific, they must have been there to learn it,” you added.

Prentiss reentered the MCC, “Did Easter have any insight?” Hotch asked. 

“A woman they called Lady X stole a sedan from Scotland Yard 8 years ago. The investigation concluded she was a trained assassin. She disappeared,” she explained.

“So Lady X and Queen of Diamonds is the same person?” Rossi questioned.

“It sounds like it,” Prentiss continued.

“Garcia, look at assassination attempts around the civil unrest in Chad,” Hotch ordered.

“If she was a hired gun, she was likely taking orders from someone,” Reid pointed out

“Maybe she's still working for the same guy now and he's still pulling the strings,” you continued.

“Or maybe she's found her equal,” Hotch proposed.

“Their obsession with killing and domination has culminated in what we've seen today,” Prentiss noted.

“Getting off on the disaster they've created. Classic symphorophiliacs,” Reid mentioned.

“Then this isn't over,” Hotch sighed.

“Far from it,” Rossi concurred.

“No. Now that they've gotten away with this, where are they gonna strike next?” Hotch asked.

A cop entered the MCC, “We have reports of an EMT being shot, cameras show your people.”

“Rossi, JJ, you two go check it out,” Hotch instructed. The pair left swiftly. “Prentiss, Morgan, and Reid, look back at what we know and see if you can figure out where the next attack is going to be,” they all nodded and got ready to leave. “Y/N stay here and help Garcia and Kevin.” Hotch made a quick exit after that.

“Kevin, what have you got?” you got off of the counter you were sitting on.

“Just going through…” Kevin replied, his eyes never leaving the screen.

“They did that on purpose, right? I mean, we saw everything until they had Will,” Garcia frantically went through the hours of footage.

“Well, they made a mistake,” you noted. “Leaving the cameras on gave us much more information than they realized. What time did the 911 text come in?” 

“9:23,” Kevin said as he scrambled back to the beginning of the footage.

“The bank opened at 9:00. Let's go back to the beginning. I need you both on this,” you felt useless, all Hotch wanted you to do was sit here and watch Garcia and Kevin.

“Y/N, I think I’ve got something. The explosion was a distraction so they could escape. Watch. Allow me to fast-forward. All right, here's where Chris started shooting hostages. The fella next to him didn't even flinch. Doesn't even break a sweat,” Kevin pointed at the gruesome footage on his screen.

“We know he's ex-military, but still... His name is Matthew Downs. That's what he told Rossi and he wasn't lying. History shows dishonorable discharge from USMC in '04,” Garcia info-dumped his history.

“Ok, do me a favor. Keep going. To where Will walks in. Ok, now watch him. And then... Look at her. Her partner was in there the whole time, just not in the way that we thought. They shot this whole thing like a home movie,” you pointed out all of the little things in their body language.

“He could have been killed,” Garcia addressed.

“No, she wouldn't let that happen,” you corrected.

“What the hell are they doing?” Kevin asked.

“It's all part of their plan. They've created scenarios that are practically impossible to survive. When they make it, it's the ultimate high. Like an adrenaline junkie,” you explained. “Let me call Hotch,” you grabbed your phone and dialed your boss’s number. “Hey, Hotch. We’re looking for one of the hostages, Matthew Downs.”

“Let me ask around really quick,” you could hear indistinct chatter on the other side. “Nobody can find Matthew Downs. ERT said that he helped them, then he disappeared.”

“That’s her partner,” you got excited that you could be helpful.

“Thank you, Y/N. Prentiss, Morgan, and Reid are walking the bank again, why don’t you help them out?” He hung up. You quickly left the MCC and made your way to the, now destroyed bank entrance. 

You worked your way over the rumble and closer to Spencer. “So why didn't they take all the money?” Spencer asked.

“They were a man down and they had to get out in a hurry,” you answered.

“But for her, today was less about the money and more about the spectacle,” Prentiss corrected.

“Everything they've said and done was for a reason,” Morgan noted. “But what doesn't make any sense is she switched the negotiation demand. Chris wanted to go to Switzerland. She changed it to Chad.”

“They also requested a private plane, but no mention of a pilot,” you remembered. Reid held out his hand and helped you over a large pile of rubble.

“Guys, if you think about it, even the dates mean something. In 2004, while she was wreaking havoc abroad, he was dishonorably discharged. Then in 2008, they likely met in Chad. And now this in 2012,” Spence pointed out.

“Ok, so is it a coincidence that those are all election years and they attacked D. C.? Maybe this is a political statement,” Morgan asked.

“No. It's more personal than that. It's their story,” Prentiss looked like a light bulb went off in her head. 

“What?” Morgan was still confused

“All of the details are a part of their story,” Prentiss explained. “We need to talk to Garcia.” 

Everyone scrambled out of the building and to the MCC to find out what idea Prentiss had. When you got there, Strauss and Hotch were already looking over Kevin’s and Garcia’s shoulder. “Their timeline suggests they were both destructive before they met.”

“So we're talking about ex-military turning on their country,” Strauss clarified.

“It's rare, but soldiers become disenfranchised no matter what the nationality. And if he met someone like-minded at that time, there'd be no stopping them,” Emily deduced. 

“So you're thinking they met during the civil unrest in Chad in '08,” Hotch connected the dots.

“Yeah, and one or both of them are pilots,” Reid added.

“So if Garcia concentrates on that region, specifically weapons running in and out of Libya, there's a good chance we'll find their paths crossed,” Prentiss continued.

“Ok, multiple entries into Libya for a private pilot named Matthew Downs in '08, but I don't have her name,” Garcia deciphered the information popping up on the screen.

“Well, because she had aliases. It's the only way to stay a ghost. Here's the thing-- they are a couple. Regardless of what we believe of them, they will celebrate themselves and their connection. Is there anything that happened on this date in Chad?” Prentiss explained.

“Oh, you are good, Emily Prentiss. But this news is not. Yes, there were multiple explosions on this date in '08,” Garcia found. 

“Where were the most casualties?” Hotch asked.

“At a church-- no, no, a train,” Garcia quickly discovered.

“Semtex and C-4?” Morgan asked

“Yep,” Garcia finished.

“Are trains still arriving at Union Station?” Hotch asked Strauss.

“Yes, but only the authorities are allowed in,” Strauss explained.

“That's why they needed Will,” Hotch noted. “Prentiss, Morgan, you’re with me.” The three of them left the MCC, followed by Strauss.

“So what’s up with you two?” you asked Garcia and Kevin.

“What do you mean?” Kevin inquired.

“Yeah, what happened between you two?” Spence joined you in your interrogation.

Garcia turned around and rolled her eyes at the two of you, “Why do you want to know so bad?”

“Because you two were a cute couple,” you explained. 

“I was planning on proposing to her, but she said that she wasn’t ready to get married,” Kevin confessed.

“That’s it?” you scoffed. “You two broke up because you didn’t want to get married and he did?”

“What’s so hard to believe about that?” Garcia asked.

“It’s just so stupid,” you laughed. “Garcia, you may not want to get married now, but you will eventually. And Kevin, just wait. You are not losing anything by waiting,” they turned to look at each other. “It’s obvious that you two still love each other,” you shrugged your shoulders at how oblivious they were.

“Let’s talk later,” Garcia placed her hand on Kevin’s knee. “Now for our turn to interrogate.”

“Garcia, I’m not hiding anything,” you kept your body language so calm that even Reid didn’t know you were lying.

She scoffed and turned to face Spencer who was a lot more nervous than you, “Dr. Reid, is there anything you would like to say.”

“No,” He tried his best to lie to her.

“How long have you two been dating?” She bluntly asked.

Reid looked at you for your approval, you nodded, “four months,” he blurted out.

“FOUR MONTHS!” Garcia jumped out of her chair, “You kept this from me for four months?” All you could do was laugh at her surprise. Reid reached over and grabbed your hand.

“Did we hide it that well?” Reid asked.

“I mean,” she finally calmed down, “we all knew something was up, but we didn’t know that.”

“I’d say we did a pretty good job,” you gave Spence a high-five.

“Does anyone else know?” She asked.

“I don’t think so,” you giggled. Garcia made you talk about your relationship until Hotch and the team got back. “How did it go?” you asked Hotch when he walked in.

“Good. We got Downs, Prentiss defused a bomb, and JJ, Will, and Henry are all safe,” he was really sweaty. “Will has to go to the hospital so JJ and Rossi are going with him, but we’re good to head back to Quantico.” Everyone grabbed their stuff and piled into the SUVs. When you arrived at Quantico everyone got settled into their desks. 

“The convention's still happening tomorrow if you want to go,” Reid stopped Garcia as she walked past her desk.

“That whole city on the brink of destruction thing kind of took the wind out of my sails, you know?” She shrugged.

“That'll do it every time,” Prentiss quipped.

“We didn't finish the inspection,” Morgan pointed out.

“No need,” Prentiss sighed

“What happened?” Reid asked.

“Um, there is a horizontal crack in the foundation. It just weakens the entire base that the house is sitting on,” she explained.

“Yeah. That does not sound good,” you acknowledged.

“So, our unsub is Izzy Rogers,” Strauss came and handed Morgan a file. “She'll be charged with multiple counts domestically, and our international counterparts will have their turn with her. She will never see the light of day. I just thought you'd like to know that. Agent Morgan, a word?” She and Morgan walked far enough away that you couldn’t hear what she was saying, she seemed to be smiling though.

“Hang on, let me check,” Hotch came out of his office, on the phone. “Oh, wait, she's here. Erin, don't go anywhere. Dave wants to know if everyone is free tomorrow night?”

“Well, it depends on if he's buying. Then I'm definitely in,” Morgan chuckled.

“Yeah, me, too,” you raised your hand.

“You hear that? We're in,” Hotch turned back to his office.

***

You spent the night at Reid’s, it was the first time you two had slept in the same bed. You went back to your apartment at around 5 to get ready for Rossi’s. He had told you to dress pretty fancily. You put on a red dress (Sherri Hill # 53097), curled your hair, and did your makeup. You went to pick Reid up at 7. The party was absolutely beautiful. When you got there, everyone was mingling and drinking. JJ and Will showed up with their son. She was none the wiser that she was actually at her wedding. Rossi had pulled out all the stops, he had caterers, lights, and a dance floor. You stood by and watched Reid show Henry a magic trick. He was so cute when he was playing with kids. You thought he was going to be a great father one day.

At around 8, Rossi asked for everyone to gather around the aisle. Will was standing at the altar with Henry by his side. JJ glided down the aisle with her mom. She looked beautiful. When she reached Will, Reid grabbed your hand and you put your head on his shoulder. After the ceremony, everyone sat at a table and Rossi gave a toast. You all ate dinner and were ready to party. The first song to play was ‘Try to Remember’ by the Brothers Four. Everyone slow-danced with their date, including you and Reid. While you were dancing, You put your head on his chest. He kissed the top of your head, “I love you,” he whispered. This was the first time he said that to you.

You lifted your head off of his chest, “I love you too,” he pulled you in for a kiss. You could feel eyes on you from every direction. When you were done, there were hoots and cheers from everyone there. 

“It’s about time, pretty boy,” Morgan came and pat Reid on the back.

“It’s been four months,” Redi exclaimed. Everyone looked at you with the same shock that Garcia had the day before.

“Great, now I owe Garcia $20,” Morgan scoffed. Rossi played some more upbeat music and you took turns dancing with all the guys and the three ladies on your team. Everyone had so much fun and it wasn’t hard to see why. Everyone shared plenty of laughs. Reid drove you home that night, as you had been drinking. You went to bed that night knowing that you and Reid loved each other. You were going to marry him, you had your heart set on it.


	17. Let’s fall in love for the night and forget in the morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I hope everyone is doing well. This chapter is shorter and really just a filler chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this and are excited for what's to come.

When you went into work the next Monday, you learned that Emily was accepting a job to work for London’s Interpol office. She said that that Monday was her last day. Later that week, she moved to London. Garcia and Morgan went on a last-minute trip there to help her settle in and to see how she was doing. While they were gone, the team got called to a case in Seattle. That was when you met Emily’s replacement. 

“Agent Blake, this is David Rossi, Jennifer Jareau, Spencer Reid, and Y/N Y/L/N,” Hotch introduced everyone, “Derek Morgan and Penelope Garcia are in London.”

The case in Seattle was difficult, to say the least. The day after you got back, you and Reid entered the bullpen to see Morgan and Garcia with numerous bags. “Hi! Hey! You guys are back. Hi,” you gave Penelope a hug and then went to give Morgan one as well.

“Oy, mates,” she said in a British accent. “Give me a squeeze.” 

“Oh, you guys look great,” you smiled.

“Cheers. How's it going?” Reid asked, returning Garcia’s hug. Morgan held his hand out for a fist bump and Reid shook it. “How's Emily doing?”

“Brilliant and lovely,” Garcia was adamant about using a British accent.

“Her apartment's off the chain,” Morgan added.

“You mean her flat,” She corrected. “You have to take a shaky old lift to get to the top, but the view is brilliant. For my favorite bloke,” Garcia handed a mug to Reid

“Hey, I love it! Thank you!” Reid accepted the gift with a smile.

Garcia handed you a miniature double-decker bus, “Thanks.”

“How was temporary duty?” Reid asked.

“Oh, it was around the clock. I thought I'd get a little more of a vacation, but…” Morgan shrugged.

“Did you watch the Olympics at all? I did see a little track and field, but the queen bee here,” Morgan gestured to Penelope, “she saw everything. Emily is for real hooked up over there.”

“She sends her love. And tea of the month starts next week,” Garcia pointed out. 

“Ohh. I miss her,” you frowned.

“Don't even get me started,” Garcia smiled. “Hey, how's the noob? Is she nice?” 

“Yeah, she is,” you nodded.

“I'm just asking,” She said in a hushed tone. “Reid, do you know when she was recruited she was 24?”

“I've guest lectured in her forensic linguistics class before,” Reid nodded.

“Of course you have, 'cause she's a professor and an agent, which is so impressive,” she scoffed.

“No, really, she's great,” you insisted.

“And driven, clearly. Berkeley grad, double major, Bureau star of the Unabomber case,” Garcia started to ramble. “And she teaches at Georgetown. When she's not doing that, she's SSAing at the Washington Field Office, and she's a Ph. D. Does that mean I have to call her doctor?” Everyone looked at her weirdly. “What?! I did some research on her 'cause I couldn't sleep on the plane. And my point is, clearly, she is smart and capable but is she nice? Oh, dear God, this is happening, where I talk and the person is behind... Me,” Garcia turned around slowly to see the newest Agent standing behind her.

“The origin of ‘nice’ is 12th-century middle English, meaning foolish or stupid. I hope you're referring to the modern use of the adjective. You must be Penelope. I'm Alex Blake,” she held her hand out for a handshake.

“Nice to meet you. Really, actually nice in the nicest of ways nice,” Garcia looked mortified.

“I'm Derek Morgan,” He shook the newest Agent’s outstretched hand.

“Welcome back,” she smiled

“How was Seattle?” Morgan asked.

“The unsub made Ridgeway look like a saint,” Blake said with a small laugh. “He even used his own kid to bait the victims.”

“Well, we've seen that before. No doubt we'll see it again,” Morgan smiled.

“Don't unpack,” Rossi said as he entered the bullpen followed by Hotch.

“Garcia, the files,” Hotch directed.

“Yeah. The files. Oh, God,” Garcia mumbled as she walked to her office.

That was everyone’s queue to head to the conference room.

“This week we are going to Mobile, Alabama,” Hotch started. “Four women have been found in dumpsters. They were all drifters, so we have no IDs for any of them.”

You examined the case file in front of you, “They were all missing their toes?” you asked.

“That’s oddly specific,” Blake responded.

“It’s very unusual,” Reid spoke up. “Most of the time unsubs will remove fingers, but no toes.”

The team quickly went through their ideas for the case and got on the plane. The plane ride was like all the others, quiet. Everyone did their own thing. When you arrived in Alabama it was really muggy. Blake was very helpful during the case. You two were the ones to apprehend the unsub. His name was Jacob Barkley. He hated men with foot fetishes, so he took it out on women who had feet. You, Reid, Morgan, and JJ played poker on the way home. 

***

The next six months were more of the same. Case after case. Your relationship with Reid progressed to the point where he asked you to move in with him. You did not hesitate to say yes. Morgan came over the next weekend to help you and Reid pack all your stuff. Everyone at the office was very supportive of your relationship. The only problem Hotch and Strauss had was that if either of your performances suffered, one of you would be transferred. You made sure neither of you needed to be transferred. 

There was one week without cases, so the whole team hung around the office and did paperwork. 

“We should all go on vacation together,” Reid announced.

“That would be fun,” JJ agreed.

“Everyone could bring their families and stuff,” Morgan looked at JJ.

You lifted your head from your desk, “I know a really affordable place in Florida, it’s right on the beach.”

“When would we go?” Blake asked.

“Could we plan for two months from now?” Reid proposed.

A chorus of ‘yes’ and ‘I’m in’ rung through the office. Reid got up and went to Hotch’s office and then to Rossi’s.

“They’re in,” He announced.

“I’m going to need numbers of everyone going,” 

“I’m one,” Morgan said as he stood up.

“I’m three,” JJ added.

“I’m one,” Blake said.

Hotch came out of his office. “I’m three.”

“I’m one,” Rossi shouted from his office.

“Garcia is one,” Morgan said as he reentered. 

“And then I’m two,” you wrote. “We need… 2 big rooms and 5 smaller rooms.”

“Morgan can I talk to you for a second,” Reid stood up and walked toward the door.

**SPENCER’S POV**

“What’s up?” Morgan asked as we walked out of the bullpen and down the hall.

“I want to propose to her, and I need your help,” I whispered.

“What do you need?” he smiled.


	18. I am just a fool to keep on chasing after nothing great You are just a fool to keep pretending that you're loving me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to re-watch 'Zugzwang' to write this, but here is the long-awaited chapter about Maeve.

You and Reid had been together for 10 months. It was everything you’d wanted in a relationship. You knew he was having terrible headaches and was having trouble sleeping. He told you he was talking to a doctor about it.

One morning after he had fallen asleep on the couch, he rushed out of the apartment. He didn’t tell you where he was going. You went into work like normal only to find everyone gathered around Spencer in the bullpen. You took a seat and waited for someone to start talking. Reid looked horrible, he was disheveled and his hair was a mess.

“He thinks he'll get away with this, and he might,” Reid started, his voice was breaking as he spoke. “I have a wealth of knowledge I should be applying to this case. Behavioral patterns of violent stalkers. Tactical recovery strategies. Victim survival odds. But right now I can't focus on anything more than 4 seconds at a time. Which makes me the dumbest person in the room. So... Please help me. Help me find her.”

“We don't know if we have a case. So we'll be working on personal time. Does anybody want to leave?” Hotch looked around for signs of disagreement. “Good. Let's get to work.” Everyone filed away from the desks. You left the bullpen and head for the bathrooms.

Reid could probably see the betrayal on your face. He followed you out of the bullpen. When he caught up with you, he grabbed your arm and pulled you into a hug, “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I should have told you earlier,” he let you go.

“Is there anything else I should know?” you asked with a straight face.

“She told me she loved me,” you scoffed. “But I need you to know that I love you,” He pulled you into another hug. “I love you, not her.”

“I love you too,” you wrapped your arms around him. “Let’s catch this guy.”

The two of you walked into the conference room to everyone around the table looking at the letters Reid provided. 

“Based on Maeve's description of the unsub in her letters, he seems like a classically possessive stalker,” Morgan examined one of the letters.

“One who craves validation and recognition. ‘What won't you see me?’ ‘Do you think you're better than me?’ This comes up again and again,” JJ flipped through a few of them.

“So does his suicidal ideation. ‘When I find you, I'm going to kill you, then myself.’” Blake read.

“Murder-suicide is the ultimate ‘I love you’ to these guys,” Rossi scoffed.

“When did the unsub start targeting Maeve?” Hotch asked.

“Maeve said it started out of the blue. My guess is it was some sort of incidental interaction, something she probably wasn't even aware of,” Reid explained.

“That's gonna make the unsub hard to find,” you picked up a letter from the table.

“And Maeve, too, until we know more about her,” Rossi added.

“I found her,” Garcia exclaimed. “There are not many geneticists with that name, but... Dr. Maeve Donovan took a sabbatical from Mendel University 10 months ago.” 

“That fits the timeline,” Blake sighed. 

“Oh, she's a smart cookie,” Garcia typed on her laptop. “She burned her credit history, but her parents rented a loft in the warehouse district 5 days ago.” 

“Did the parents sell their house recently?” Rossi asked. 

Garcia dug deeper into their records, “No.” 

“They might be helping her hide,” Hotch noted. “Morgan, you and JJ go to the loft. Blake and Dave, go to the lab. Y/N, stay here and help Garcia. How clear is your head?” 

“Not very clear,” Reid rubbed his temple.

“I want to talk to her parents, but I want you to observe the interview,” Hotch grabbed a few things from the table.

“Reid. I have a picture of her. Do you want to see what she looks like?” Garcia whispered. 

“No,” he stood up and followed Hotch out. Everyone else got up to leave.

“Alright, Garcia let’s do this,” You pulled out a chair and sat down. “This phrase is interesting, ‘You think you’re better than me?’ who says that.”

“Maybe it's a colleague who’s idea she disproved,” Garcia shrugged.

“Look at lab assistants and anyone pursuing a doctorate in genetics from Mendel University,” you shuffled through the letters while Garcia typed on her computer. Rossi brought you photos to scan through an hour later. You and Garcia walked to her office and started to scan the pictures.

“Ok, I'm sharing something I haven't told anyone. Every time we have a stalking case, I think Rosanna Arquette,” Garcia blurted.

“The whole Arquette family to choose from and you go with Rosanna,” you giggled.

“Of course I go with Rosanna because Rosanna Arquette was the inspiration for two seminal songs of my childhood. "Rosanna, " by Toto... Obviously. And "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel. Which gives one pause to think of the myriad of ways a man can be obsessed by a woman, and what is she doing in bed to inspire that kind of obsession, and can she teach us? Because I want to know.”

“Whoa,” you were staring at a picture with Maeve’s face scribbled out.

“He went to town on that one. JJ is that…” Garcia pointed at the black smudge. You quickly got out of your chair and went to find Spence. You handed him the picture.

“I don't get it. I mean, I see the message, ‘I'm obliterating you,’ but we already knew that,” he held the picture up and examined it.

“No, see, it's not about the message. It's about the medium, what he used to draw on her face. Spence... It's black eyeliner. The stalker's a woman. That's why she masked her voice on the phone. That's why Maeve let her into her loft. She thought what we thought, that her stalker was a man,” he grabbed the photo and rushed to Hotch’s office. You walked back to Garcia’s office. “Did you find anything with the lab assistants and doctorate students?” you asked Garcia as you entered. 

“Yeah, I have the list of them pulled up,” she switched to another tab on her computer.

“We can look through it once they give us more information,” you sat down next to her and put on a glove to start going through pictures again. Twenty minutes later, Hotch called and asked you to look into the girlfriend they’d met earlier. Garcia couldn’t find her anywhere. You were looking for Diane Huntington. “Garcia, cross-check the name Diane with the research assistants list,” you said, flipping through the photos.

“There are none,” Garcia turned to you.

“How far back did you go?” you returned her gaze.

“Only the current ones.”

“Go back 5 years,” you stood up and went to stand next to her.

Garcia searched through the assistants for five minutes before finally finding her, “Diane Turner.”

You and Garcia quickly went to the conference room to present your findings. Hotch sent Rossi, Reid, and JJ to inspect her apartment. Morgan and Blake went to her office. When Reid came back he came back more distraught and was muttering something about needing a map of DC. He put the map onto the board, “This is Diane Turner's apartment. This is the nearest cell tower her phone call to me pinged off of, which means this is the circle that Maeve was telling me about.” 

“What circle?” Hotch asked. 

“It was a clue in Diane's message. Finding her would be as easy as pie. Only she wasn't referring to the food, she was referring to…” Reid wrote out the first 5 digits of pi.

“Pi,” Garcia breathed out. 

“Why would Diane give you a clue?” Hotch was still confused.

“Maeve made a similar pun once,” Reid sighed. “Now Diane wants me to see her the same way, but brilliant, the smartest girl in the room.”

“All right, assuming that Diane has a secondary location, where in the circle would she hold Maeve?” Hotch asked.

“She'd need a building that would allow for privacy and control, a closed garage for prisoner transfer…” Reid explained.

“If she's copying Maeve's life, it might be someplace close to Maeve's apartment,” Hotch guessed.

“There's nothing in Diane's name,” Garcia sighed. 

“Well, what about Maeve's name, or even Bobby's, maybe she forged his signature?” You added. 

Garcia typed on her computer, “Nope” 

“What about Diane's parents?” Reid was getting angrier and angrier.

“Yes. Yes. Diane rented a loft right next to Maeve's in her parents' name,” Reid grabbed his coat at Garcia’s name. 

“Reid. I can't let you be a part of this takedown,” Hotch stopped him.

We don't have a choice. If I don't go in there, Maeve is dead,” Reid pleaded.

“And if you do, you're dead,” Hotch explained.

“Hotch, we've known from the beginning she's on a murder-suicide mission, but we never stopped to ask why she's on that mission. We know now that it's because she wants recognition, the type of recognition she thinks Maeve gets, and I can give her that.”

“How?” Hotch sighed

“I'm gonna tell her that I love her,” Reid and Hotch walked away after that.

That was your breaking point. Reid told you that he didn’t love Maeve, but now it seems like he does. You stormed up the stairs and into Rossi’s office. You laid on the couch and started to cry. He was hurting you and he didn’t even know it. Within minutes Rossi walked in and shut the door, “Shouldn’t you be with the team?” you wiped tears from your face and sat up.

“They have a whole SWAT team, they don’t need me,” He came and sat next to you. “What’s wrong.”

“The night JJ got married,” you said through sobs, “He told me he loved me. Every day after that, he told me he loved me.”

“He still does love you,” He let you put your head on his shoulder. “Do you know what transference is?”

“When someone is being helped, sometimes they fall in love with their rescuer,” you said as your tears ran dry.

“She helped him with his headaches, so he may have felt compelled to love her,” He explained.

“Do you have your com with you?” you asked.

“I do,” He pulled a walkie talkie out of his pocket and took the earpiece out so you both could listen. 

You couldn’t hear much of anything, until there was a gunshot, “Let’s go,” Hotch shouted.

“Stay back! Stay back! Stay back! Stay back, stay back!” Reid shouted. “Diane, Diane, there's still a way out of this.”

“You never wanted me. Never! You lied!” Diane shrieked 

“I didn't. Diane, I offered you a deal and you can still take it. Me for her. Let me take her place,” Reid pleaded. 

“You would do that?” Diane asked through tears. 

“Yes,” Reid said calmly. 

“You would kill yourself for her?”

“Yes,” Reid repeated.

“Thomas Merton,” Maeve said calmly. 

“Who's Thomas Merton?” Diane cried.

“He knows. He knows.” the woman said more desperately this time.

“Who's Thomas Merton? Who is he?” Diane cried. 

“He's the one thing you can never take from us,” Maeve said confidently.

“No,” Diane was calm this time, too calm. There was another gunshot.

“Wait!” Reid screamed. 

You got up as quickly as possible, “We have to get over there Rossi,” you screamed as you ran out of the room. Rossi wasn’t far behind you. He drove the two of you to the loft Garcia and discovered. When you rushed in, everyone was staring at the two women in a pool of blood. Reid was crying on the ground. You ran over to him and hugged him. He needed you more than ever at this point. “Spence,” you whispered.

“I’m so sorry,” he sobbed into your shoulder.

“Don’t apologize.”

You two sat there for a while. Eventually, Hotch said that you two needed to leave so you helped Reid stand up and leave the building. You drove him home and helped him get into bed. Rossi called you and asked how he was. You had to tell him that he hadn’t talked for 12 hours. Later that day, Morgan called you. “Hey,” you whispered as you answered the phone.

“He still loves you,” Morgan assured you.

“Did you talk to Rossi?” you scoffed. 

You heard him chuckle, “I did. As Reid’s best friend and confidant, I am sure enough to tell you that he still loves you.”

“Thank you,” you hung up. You looked at the shell of a man lying in your boyfriend’s bed. You sighed and went to lay with him.


	19. How would you feel if I walked up to you one day And ripped your heart out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is incredibly short, but I thought I left it at a pretty good set-up so that the next chapter will be longgg.

For a week, Reid barely moved. He would get up to eat and use the bathroom, that was it. JJ came over to check on him, but he wouldn’t talk to her. Morgan came by and all he did was roll over in bed. 

“Good morning,” you sighed on day 8 of him not talking to you.

“What do you want?” he scoffed.

You were taken aback by his sudden anger, “Reid, I’m trying to help.”

“I’m sorry,” he started to sob. You pulled him closer to you and held him while he cried in your arms. This was the norm. You would wake up, he would start to cry, and you would hold him until he fell asleep. Time was ticking as he laid there. You couldn’t do much for him. All you could do was, stay by his side. 

The team would come by and visit between cases. You went back to work two weeks post-Maeve. Reid would call you when he felt down and you would stay on the phone as he cried and you listened. During cases, Garcia would stop by and cook for Reid.

“You’re home!” he exclaimed as you walked into the apartment. He jumped off the couch and ran to give you a hug. 

“Wow,” you smiled and hugged him back. “Are you feeling better?” 

“I stopped seeing her,” he stuttered, “in my dreams.” He looked down at the floor with shame.

“That’s good,” you set your bags on the couch and walked to the kitchen.

He walked to the couch and sat down, “I’m really sorry this happened to you.”

“Don’t apologize,” you shouted from the kitchen. “Nothing happened to me.”

“I told another woman I loved her,” he sighed.

You walked over and sat next to him, “you’re okay, and that is all that matters.” You grabbed his face and kissed his forehead. The two of you talked, laughed, cried, and smiled all night. You fell asleep on him and he fell asleep while holding you. 

He went to see a therapist the next day. He saw her for four weeks before coming back to work. 

“You’re back!” JJ screamed when you and Reid walked into the bullpen. She ran and hugged him.

“How’s it going, pretty boy?” Morgan gave him a hug as well. Everyone came and said hello and gave him a hug. “So Florida in one week, is everyone ready?” Morgan stared at Reid.

“Yeah, I’m feeling pretty good about it,” Reid smiled.

“Everyone has their travel plans in place?” you looked around at your coworkers. There was a chorus of yeses. 

There wasn’t a case that whole week, which made it feel much longer. On the way out of the office the night before you were supposed to leave, you had an idea, “Does anyone want to go out for drinks tonight?” you asked before everyone got the chance to head their separate ways. 

I’m in,” Blake smiled.

“Me too,” Rossi agreed.

“I’ll go if Rossi is buying,” Morgan nudged the older man.

“I’m in,” JJ raised her hand.

Hotch hung up the phone call he was on, “I can go for a bit.”

“Yay!” you started to jump like a little school girl to your car. “This is going to be fun.”

You all decided on a bar and got in your respective cars. Rossi was the first one there and had already ordered a round of shots when you arrived. The bar was surprisingly full for a Wednesday. The rest of the team filed in after you and joined you, Reid, and Rossi at the round booth in the corner. 

Morgan and Garcia got wasted and ended up dancing in a bar without a dance floor. Blake and JJ only had a few beers. Hotch and Reid didn’t drink at all. You and Rossi had a few drinks, just enough to get you tipsy. 

The team shared some laughs before everyone had to leave. 

“I can drive,” you slurred.

He sighed, “No, you can’t.” He grabbed the keys from you and helped you into the car. He drove you back to the apartment. “Our flight is at 10am,” he glanced over at you, “Will you be okay by then?”

“I’m ok right now,” you smiled. You gasped when you looked over at him, you reached your hand over and pat his hair, “You have very nice hair, Doctor.” He smiled at your slurred compliment. He let you pet him for the rest of the drive home. 

He helped you into the apartment and into bed. You passed out pretty quickly. Little did you know while you slept, Reid was sitting on the couch, staring at the diamond ring he’d bought two months prior.


	20. Somebody loves you, it’s been that way for a year or two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter, also the longest to date.
> 
> The hotel they’re staying at is called Beach Haven. It’s on St. Pete Beach
> 
> *PART 2 HAS BEEN STARTED*

“Y/N, wake up,” Reid was shaking you, “Our flight is in two hours.”

“Five more minutes,” you rolled over away from him.

He ripped the blankets off you, “You’re all packed, right?”

“Yes,” you groaned, sitting up and rubbing your eyes. 

Reid went into the bathroom to finish getting ready, “Are you excited?” he shouted.

“Yeah,” you pulled yourself out of bed, “this is where I spent my childhood vacations and now I get to share it with all you guys.” You changed into jeans and a sweatshirt. “The car’s here,” you checked your phone to see a message from the town car service.

“I’ll get the bags,” Reid came out of the bathroom and grabbed your suitcases. You insisted you take a few, but he refused. 

The car ride to the airport was uneventful, but eventually, you got to the airport. Security was a hassle, but you got through with plenty of time to get to your gate. Reid had upgraded your seats without you knowing so you got to board first and sit at the front. 

During the flight, he kept glancing to look at you, “What?” you giggled.

“Nothing,” he returned to his book, his smile never left his face. The two and a half hour flight felt much shorter. 

When you got off the plane in Tampa, you were hit in the face with a gust of hot, humid air. You and Reid walked to the baggage claim and grabbed your suitcases. There was a tram to take you to the rental car building. The car you rented was a red 2011 Toyota Camry. It was a nice sensible car for you and him to drive for two weeks. He loaded all the bags into the car and drove the two of you to the nice little motel on Gulf Blvd. It was a very quaint, pink motel with a pool and direct access to the beach. When you arrived you were greeted by Penelope and Morgan who arrived earlier that day. 

“Hi,” Garcia squealed as she ran to give you a hug. 

You returned her hug, “How was your flight?” 

“It was good,” she grabbed your hand and started to drag you through the motel. “Did you know that this place has a beach?” She practically screamed while dragging you.

“Garcia, I spent every summer vacation here as a kid,” you laughed at her abrasiveness. “Let me check-in and then we can go to the beach.”

She let go of your wrist and you walked back to the manager’s office and checked in. You were in room 17, it had a patio connected to another patio. You could smell the salt from the ocean as you went to help Reid with the bags. He and Morgan were talking when you walked over.

“What’re you guys talking about?” you bounced over to them.

“Nothing,” Morgan was quick to reply. “Do you need help with the bags?” 

“Please,” Reid sighed. 

They each grabbed a few bags and followed you to the room. They hauled in your luggage and plopped on the couch. You walked to the bedroom and closed the door, leaving them to their own devices. When you came out, they were ogling you. You were in your swimsuit, with a beach bag in your hand, “I told Garcia we could go to the beach,” you shrugged. 

“Let me change,” Reid got up and walked to the bedroom.

“Me too,” Morgan opened the front door, “I’ll get Garcia,” he shouted before closing the door.

Reid came out in swim trunks and a t-shirt, “You’re not going in the water with a t-shirt on, right?” you pointed at his peculiar outfit.

“I’m just wearing it down there,” he pulled you into a hug.

“What’s this for?” you were confused by his gesture.

He looked down at you and smiled, “I just love you so much.”

“I love you too,” There was a knock on the door right as your lips connected with his. You groaned at the unwelcome distraction. Outside your door was JJ, “JJ, when did you guys get here?” you pulled her into a hug.

“Like 15 minutes ago,” she let go of you and looked at your outfit. “Are you guys going to the beach?”

“Yeah,” you gestured to the blonde running down the path, “We were waiting for Garcia and Morgan.”

“JJ, thank goodness you’re here,” Garcia shouted. “Do you want to go to the beach with us?”

“I think we’ll pass,” she sighed, “It was a long drive.”

“Ok, well we’ll see you later,” You waved as she walked back to her room. “You ready Garcia.”

“I am so ready,” she was smiling from ear to ear. You could see Morgan walking behind her and stopping at your room. 

“Let me get my bag,” you disappeared into your room to grab the beach bag you had packed. Reid followed you out and locked the room. You were wearing a white bikini, large brimmed hat, white coverup, and slides. Garcia was very excited to get down to the beach, she was practically skipping down the path. Once you reached the beach deck, you took off your shoes and left them there, everyone looked at you confused. When they walked into the sand, they realized why you took off your shoes. 

The sand was warm and soft. You had to avoid stepping on a few shells, but that wasn’t hard. You found a nice spot and everyone set their stuff down. Morgan and Reid were setting up the umbrellas and towels, while you and Garcia went to look for shells. When they were done Morgan came to join you and Garcia went to sit with Reid.

“Can I ask you a question?” you asked Morgan, your eyes not leaving the sand.

“Sure,” he wasn’t looking for shells. He was just walking with you.

You stopped and looked up at him, “why is Reid acting so weird?” Morgan stopped dead in his tracks.

“He’s not acting weird,” he shrugged and kept walking.

“Ok,” you scoffed. “I’m going to head back.” You turned around and head back the way you came. Morgan ran to catch up with you. Reid and Garcia were laying on some towels and talking when you ran over. “Do you guys want to go in the water?” you took off your cover-up.

“Sure,” Reid held his hands out for you to pull him up, but you just shook your head and ran away. You could hear him swear and start running to catch up with you. You jumped into the water and once you were waist deep, you felt hands wrap around your waist. Instead of Reid giving you a cute little kiss from behind, he picked you up and threw you into the water. 

“Oh, you are so dead,” you brushed the hair out of your face and ran to get him. You two play fought in the water for a few minutes until Morgan and Garcia came and joined you. “Does anyone know what time everyone else is supposed to arrive?” you asked the group.

“They may be in right now,” Morgan replied.

Reid came up from behind you and wrapped his arms around you, “Do we want to go up and check?”

“Sure,” you shrugged. Everyone shuffled their way out of the ocean and to the umbrellas. Morgan and Reid took care of the umbrellas, you and Garcia took care of some of the items scattered around. The walk back up was filled with laughter. You took turns washing your feet at the station set up. You grabbed your shoes and held the gate for your teammates. Reid threw the excess stuff in your room and joined you, Garcia, and Morgan at one of the tables set up on the patio. 

“I hope you didn’t start the party without us,” you heard a man say behind you.

You turned around to see Rossi and Blake standing behind you, “You guys made it!” you gave them both giant hugs. “How was the trip?”

“It was good,” Blake smiled at the four of you.

“This place is beautiful,” Rossi said, wandering around the small patio area. 

“Grab a seat,” Morgan gestured to the empty chairs scattered about. They both did as told and joined your table.

You turned your head to look at Reid, “what time is it?” 

He checked his watch, “4 pm.”

“What time do we want to eat dinner?” you asked the group.

“I would say around 6,” Rossi shrugged.

You stood up from your chair, “I’m going to go grocery shopping, does anyone want to come?” They all stayed silent, “Fine, does anyone need anything?” Now they were all quick to give answers. “I’ll be back soon,” you walked away from the table and into your room. You grabbed your keys, wallet, and put a t-shirt and shorts over your bathing suit. You popped your head out of the sliding door, “I’ll be back soon,” you closed it and started for the grocery store across the street

**Spencer’s POV**

Y/N had just left for the grocery store, and for having wet hair, she looked fantastic. 

“When are you going to propose?” Rossi asked in a whisper.

“What?” Blake looked between Rossi and me, “You’re proposing?”

“How did you know?” I snapped back in the same hushed tone.

Rossi sat back in his chair, “Your one year anniversary is coming up, right?”

“Yeah,” I looked at Morgan who just shook his head.

“It’s about time,” Rossi high-fived Morgan. 

“Can I see the ring?” Garcia asked with the biggest smile on her face.

I pulled a black ring box out of my shorts, “I bought it two months ago.” I opened it to reveal a gorgeous engagement ring. 

“Oh, my god,” Garcia looked at the ring and her jaw dropped. She handed it to Blake, who had a similar reaction.

“When are you going to do it?” Rossi leaned in.

“Well, Emily is arriving Sunday,” I sat back in my chair, “so, I’m thinking about Sunday’s sunset, which is in three days.”

“Oh, my god,” Blake was still looking at the ring.

“That’ll be perfect,” Rossi grabbed the ring box and handed it back to me. We talked for about an hour until Hotch arrived.

“Hey, Hotch,” We all said simultaneously. Hotch came and said his hellos. Beth was at his side holding Jack’s hand. Right as they were getting ready to head back to their room, Y/N showed up with about 20 grocery bags.

**Your POV**

“A little help please,” you sighed as you set the heavy bags on the pavement.

Reid was quick to get out of his seat and help you, “How much did you buy?” 

“Enough,” you shrugged and gave him a quick hug.

“So, chef Y/N,” Rossi stood up and started going through the bags, “what are you making tonight?” 

You picked up a few of the bags, “shish kebabs,” you said cheerfully. You grabbed the bags and brought them into your hotel room. Reid followed you in with the last few.

“Do you need any help?” He asked.

You turned around and looked at him, “no, go enjoy your conversation.” He gave you a kiss on the cheek and walked back out to the patio. You took everything out of the bags and put them into their respective cabinets. For the kebabs, you started with the onions, slicing them in big squares. Then you cubed the chicken and squared the peppers. You sliced a few more onions and peppers for the side. Skewering them all together was a hassle. There were twenty in total. You placed them all on a tray and brought them out to the grill. “I hope everyone doesn’t mind chicken,” No one was disgruntled with your choices. You lit the grill and started to put the kebabs on with tongs. 

“Y/N,” you turned around at the sound of Rossi’s voice, “you said that you sed to vacation here, what is there for us to do?” 

You set the tongs down, “there are two really good aquariums within an hour, a fantastic beach to find sand dollars within 30 minutes, there should be a craft fair next week, we can take a boat out to an island and go shelling,” you started counting out what you were listing on your fingers, “mini-golf is across the street, dolphin sightseeing tours across the street too, there is a zoo in Tampa, there is a bird sanctuary, a ton of really good restaurants, there is an amusement park near here, a pier that is basically an outdoor mall, and I’m sure there’s more,” you nodded.

“What do you want to do tomorrow?” Reid looked up at you with his puppy dog eyes.

“I was thinking we go to the Mote aquarium,” you smiled, “do I need to give a sales pitch?”

“Of course,” Garcia giggled.

“Give me one second,” you turned around and flipped the kebabs then turned back around, “Ok, its an aquarium in Sarasota, it has a bunch of really cool exhibits and it’s not incredibly expensive.”

“Sounds fun,” Blake nodded.

The team made small talk for a while. You kept cooking the food, within the time it took for everything to cook JJ, Will, Henry, Hotch, Beth, and Jack had all come to join the party. 

“Reid,” you called him over to the grill, “I bought some plates and paper towels, can you get them there should also be silverware in the drawer.”

“Yeah,” he scurried into the room and grabbed everything 

You put the kebabs on the plate and brought them over to the table, “Dinner is served.” Everyone grabbed a plate, a fork, and a kebab. The whole dinner was a moment of pure bliss. The twelve of you ate, talked, and laughed for a solid hour. It was around 7 that everyone finished and helped you clean up. 

“Sunset isn’t until 8:30ish, so we can hang out here for a while,” you said as you sat down next to Reid and Garcia. 

Jack came running up to Hotch and tugged on his shirt, “Dad, can Henry and I go in the pool?” 

“Who’s going to watch the two of you?” Hotch sighed. The boys looked between themselves with dismay on their faces. 

“We can all move to the pool deck, there’s plenty of space,” you suggested.

JJ smiled, “why don’t you two go change while we move our stuff?” She handed a key to her son, Hotch followed suit. The team grabbed all the small items they had strewn about and moved to the pool deck. They set up at the table. A few of them dipped their legs in the pool. You were quick to take off your clothes to reveal you were still wearing a swimsuit.

“What’re you doing?” Reid’s face turned white.

You walked around to the deep end of the pool and assumed your stance, “going for a swim,” you dove into the pool like a professional and swam to where the team was soaking their feet. “Hop in the water’s great,” you floated on your back and smiled at yourself.

Henry and Jack came running into the pool deck in their swim trunks, “no running boys,” JJ said like the mom she is. The two kids decreased their run to a brisk walk and made their way to the deep end. “Y/N, come here,” you swam over to JJ at her request, “Henry isn’t the strongest swimmer, can you watch him?”

“Of course,” you smiled.

“Hey mom, watch this,” a tiny voice shouted and you turned around. “Cannonball!” you watched Henry jump into the pool and were quick to swim over to make sure he got to the surface. Thankfully he came up for air. Jack followed him.

“Henry, come here,” you waved the little boy over as you tread water. He doggy paddled his way over to you. “Do you want to show your mom a cool trick?” He nodded fervently. You picked him up and put him on the edge of the pool“Ok, so you’re going to go behind me and grab my hands ok? Then I’m going to go under the water and you’re going to squat on my shoulders. I’ll tap your hand three times and then I’ll stand up and you jump and then do a flip in the air and it’ll be a big splash.”

“That’s so cool,” he looked at you in awe.

“I know right?” you tried to be more animated for the sake of the little boy. “Do you understand?” He nodded very confidently. You helped him back into the pool and to where it was easier for you to stand. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” you pointed to his mom and he got the memo, “Mom, watch this,” the entire team turned to watch the two of you. 

“Let’s do this,” you high-fived him and turned around. He grabbed your hands and you went under the water. He put his feet on your shoulders and you tapped his hand. You stood up as fast as you could and he jumped. You had your eyes open under the water so you could watch him. He did the flip and there was a giant splash. 

“Oh, my god,” you could hear JJ mutter. 

Henry swam up to the surface and screamed with delight, “That was so cool, can I do it again?”

“Sure,” you shrugged. He swam over to you and did the whole thing over again.

“I wanna try,” Jack whined.

“Come here,” you explained everything to him and pulled the whole thing off without a hitch. 

By the time 8 o’clock rolled around, it felt like you had done it more than 100 times, but the kids were happy. 

“Are you boys ready to go to the beach?” JJ stood up and dried off her legs. The two boys were as eager as the team to get down to the beach. Everyone made their way out of the pool deck and down to the beach. Reid had brought you a towel to dry off and your cover-up from earlier.

“You have to teach me that,” Will said to you as you dried off.

“Will do,” you smiled and laughed.

Reid looked at you in awe, “When did you learn how to do that?”

“My dad used to do it to me,” you shrugged and put on your cover-up. You and Reid held hands and followed everyone else to the beach. Most of them stayed with the group and played with the kids, waiting for the sunset. You and Reid wandered down the beach.

“I love you,” Reid looked down at you as you walked next to him, still holding his hand.

“I love you too,” you got on your tippy-toes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. 

The two of you kept walking down the beach, “Do you want kids?” he asked.

“Yeah, why?” you kept your eyes on the sand, looking for shells.

“We’ve never talked about it,” you felt him shrug. 

You looked at him, “do you want kids?”

“I do,” he nodded. 

“How many?” you returned your eyes to the sand,

“Two or three,” he helped you look for shells.

You gasped, “Me too.”

“That’s good,” he looked back up.

You bent down to grab something from the sand and then went to wash it off in the ocean, “look a shark’s tooth,” you showed him the not-so-common object in your hand.

“Good find,” he gave you a high-five. “We should head back now,” he said while looking at his watch.

“Okie doke,” you were so happy, you practically skipped back to the group. They were all looking to the east at the sunset.

“What’d we miss?” Reid announced your arrival. Everyone was too busy watching the sunset over the horizon to laugh at his joke. Everyone stood there in silence as the sun rested just below the horizon and the light was fading. 

“Did you see it?” you asked everyone.

“See what?” Morgan asked with a furrowed brow.

You looked at him as if he was stupid for not knowing what you were talking about, “the green flash.”

“What?” Rossi looked at you.

“Sometimes when the sunsets, you can see a flash of green light,” you explained it to them as if they were children. 

Henry ran up to you, “I saw it!” he said with a giant smile on his face.

“You did?” your entire demeanor changed when he came up to you. “Nice job,” you picked him up and bounced him as if he were a baby.

“Let’s head up,” Garcia started for the hotel and everyone followed.

You carried Henry the entire way up and Reid pouted that he wasn’t able to hold your hand. Henry fell asleep on your shoulder. When the team got back up to the patio everyone grabbed a chair and sat down. There were fairy lights illuminating the conversation, it was like a dream. JJ and Will offered to take their sleeping child from your arms, but you didn’t care. 

“Reid,” you whispered.

He leaned over to hear what you were saying, “What?”

“I bought the kids popsicles, can you get them from the freezer?” you whispered quiet enough that Henry didn’t wake up.

“Yeah,” he stood up and went to your room. He came back a few minutes later and set two popsicles in front of you.

“Jack,” you waved him over. “Take that popsicle and ask your dad if you can have it.” He did as you said.

“Daddy, can I have this popsicle?” he flashed his dog puppy dog eyes.

Hotch looked at you and sighed, “Sure, make sure you thank Ms. Y/N.”

Jack ran up to you, popsicle in hand, “thank you Ms. Y/N.”

“You’re very welcome,” he ran back to sit on his dad’s lap and eat his popsicle. Reid reached over and held your hand. Henry was still asleep.

“Tomorrow we were thinking of going to the aquarium,” Rossi announced to the group. 

“Okay, what time?” JJ nodded.

You tried to keep your voice down, “10am?” 

“Sounds good,” Hotch acknowledged.

“Everyone fends for themselves for breakfast?” Reid asked.

“Sure,” Morgan shrugged.

“Who doesn’t have a car?” JJ leaned forward in her seat. “We can take four more.”

“We can take three,” you added, still staying quiet.

“We three can go with JJ,” Hotch gestured to Jack and Beth.

Morgan leaned forward, “Garcia and I will go with Y/N and Reid.”

“I’ll go with you two,” Rossi gestured to you and Reid.

JJ sat back in her chair, “Blake, looks like your with us.” Blake nodded. “I think we’re going to head in for the night.” JJ came over and grabbed the sleeping Henry from your lap, ‘Thank you’ she mouthed. Will followed her to their room. 

“Us too,” Hotch gestured to Jack, who finished his popsicle and cuddled into his dad’s chest. The three of them got up and walked to their room that was down the path.

The rest of the team decided that it was a good time to head in. After you said your goodbyes, you and Reid head inside. You were the first one to take a shower. When you came out he was on the couch watching TV. He got up and went into the bathroom. You got dressed and prepared your room to sleep, you closed the blinds and dead-bolted the door. Reid got done with his shower and joined you in bed. You two watched TV for a while before you fell asleep in his arms. This was shaping up to be one of the best vacations ever. You got to be everyone’s tour guide. Truly you didn’t think it could get any better. The sun was warm, the water was warm, and everyone was getting along. There were no dead bodies, no serial killers, just peace. You slept like a baby the whole night. Reid never moved away, which was weird because normally he would roll over on his side after a while. 

At 8 am, you were awoken by the smell of pancakes. You groggily got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. You awned and rubbed your eyes, “Good morning,” Reid was in the kitchen staring at a pan on the stove.

“Good morning,” he turned around to see you standing in shorts and tank-top. 

You laid down on the couch and turned to look at him, “You’re cooking?”

“Yes,” he chuckled. “I went to the store earlier and grabbed some pancake mix and a few other essentials,” he brought you a plate with 3 pancakes and some syrup. 

“Thank you,” you yawned.

“We have the aquarium today,” he grabbed a plate for himself and joined you on the couch. 

“Yup,” you nodded and started to eat your pancakes, “these are really good,” you said with a mouthful of pancakes.

“Do we need to buy anything?” He asked while turning on the TV.

You put your plate on the coffee table and snuggled into him, “nope, we just pack a small bag.” The two of you stayed on the couch for about an hour until there was a knock on the door. You got off the couch and opened it to see the perky Penelope Garcia.

“Ok, so, I have made each of us sandwiches and some other snacks for today,” she rushed into the room.

“Garcia,” Reid sighed.

“I’m not done, I also have four bottles of sunscreen and a few towels,” she rushed through her words. “Ok, I’m done.”

“Good morning,” you gave her a hug.

She returned your hug with a smile, “good morning, you two!”

“So, you’re excited for the aquarium?” you giggled.

“I am so excited,” she went to sit next to Reid and there was another knock on the door.

“Morgan, good morning,” Morgan was standing outside your door in shorts and a t-shirt.

He gave you a hug, “good morning, princess.”

“Do you guys want to go on the patio?” you offered while you opened the sliding glass door. Everyone filed outside and grabbed a chair on the small balcony attached to your room. You four talked for half-an-hour before the rest of the team left their rooms to join you. When 10 rolled around everyone filed off the balcony to grab their things. Garcia brought her stuff to your room, so she stayed and talked to Reid while you packed a bag. You included your sunglasses, his sunglasses, a sweatshirt, and some water bottles. The three of you went to your car where you were greeted by Rossi and Morgan. Garcia called shotgun meaning the boys had to sit in the back. You got to drive, which you were not mad about. Garcia connected her phone to the Bluetooth and played some throwbacks. When JJ was ready to go you pulled out of the parking lot and started the hour drive to the aquarium.

When you got there, everyone filed out of the car. Reid came around and grabbed your hand. The two of you stayed near the back of the group the entire day.

“You know what this reminds me of?” you said as you were looking at one of the exhibits.

“What?” he leaned against the glass and stared at you.

“Our second date,” you smiled at him. “We went to almost all the Smithsonian’s.”

He gave you a quick kiss on your forehead and the two of you went back to following the group. Henry and Jack were having a field day. You talked to JJ later and apparently Henry had never been to an aquarium before. Everyone took a break from walking around at noon for lunch. Garcia handed out sandwiches and snacks. You chatted with the team for a bit and when everyone was done, you continued walking. You were all back at the car by 2. Will ended up carrying Henry out and Hotch was carrying Jack. Reid called shotgun this time and Garcia pouted, you still let her connect her phone though.

You got back to the hotel at 3 and immediately changed into a swimsuit. You and Reid grabbed some towels and made your way to the pool. You swam some laps and he sat and watched you. Later, Garcia and Morgan joined you, followed by Rossi and Blake. JJ and Hotch put their kids down for a nap so they weren’t coming. Rossi brought some whiskey and Garcia brought watermelon. 

“So your one year anniversary is coming up, right?” Rossi took a sip from his glass.

“Yeah,” you giggled. “I think it’s Monday.”

“How are you planning on celebrating?”

“We’ll probably go out for dinner or something,” Reid shrugged.

“Speaking of dinner,” Garcia chimed in, “What are we doing for dinner tonight?” 

Everyone looked at you, “do you want to make something or go out?” you asked.

“Let’s go out,” Morgan answered.

You leaned your head against the wall and started to think out loud, “So, there is a seafood place down the street, a really good pizza place across the street, another seafood place up the road. We could go to IHOP.”

“Where do you want to go?” Reid gestured to you.

“Let’s go to the wharf, it’s this cute little seafood place, like five minutes away,” you had eaten there many times before and knew that the food was good.

“Alrighty then,” Reid swam over and sat next to you. You had a conversation with the five of them for an hour eventually getting out of the pool. The six of you walked down to the beach and hung out there for a while before heading back up and going your separate ways. You showered and changed into a sundress. It wasn’t the place you needed to dress fancier, but it felt nice to wear a dress. Reid was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. You and he went to sit on the patio and wait for the rest of the team. Everyone came to join you eventually. At around 5:30 you filed into the cars and drove to The Wharf. 

“Table for 12 please,” you asked the waitress. “ I’m so sorry.”

“Right this way,” she grabbed 12 menus and you all followed her to a smaller room. She started to move tables around to make a table. You and Reid naturally sat next to each other. Everyone got settled into their seats and started looking at their menus. The waitress came by a few minutes later and asked for drink orders. Luckily, everyone had decided what they wanted to eat too. The waitress took drink and food orders. When she was done you got up and walked to the other side of the table. You crouched next to Henry, “Hey, do you want to go check out something cool?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Alright, ask your mommy if it’s okay,” he turned around and asked JJ if it was ok to go with you. She said sure. “Come on,” you grabbed his hand and helped him out of his chair. You walked him over to the fish tank and picked him up. He started to point out his favorite fish. Then you carried him out to the bar area and showed him the canal. He asked if he could look closer and you walked him back to the main room. You said maybe he could later. When you got back to the table JJ was very happy that you and Henry got along so well. Jack said that he wanted to see what you showed Henry, so you brought him to look at the canal. He seemed ecstai=tic to look at the fish. He would point them out to you whenever he saw one. Once he seemed tuckered out you brought him back to the table.

“How was it, Jack?” Hotch smiled at his son.

Jack was a lot more chipper now, “so cool!” He started to ramble on about some of the fish he got to see.

“Did you have fun?” Reid leaned over and whispered in your ear.

“They’re both great kids,” you nodded.

“Y/N, this has to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve been in a while,” Rossi interjected.

Morgan chuckled, “you said you spent a lot of vacations here, right?” you nodded. “Do you have any fun stories?” 

“Oh boy,” you sighed. “One time we were fishing off of a pier in Fort DeSoto and I accidentally hooked a dolphin. It was my greatest accomplishment for a while.”

“That’s so cool,” Henry looked up from his coloring page.

“You want to know what’s even cooler?” you leaned closer and he nodded aggressively. “One time, my brother caught a shark.”

“No way,” he was in complete awe. “That’s cool,” he went back to his coloring.

“Another time, there was a tropical storm that hit while we were here, and we went to breakfast at a smaller restaurant. Right before we were going to pay, the power went out, and a waitress had to announce ‘Don’t worry the credit card machine still works.’ and the whole restaurant laughed,” you smiled remembering that vacation. “That same day, when the clouds cleared, my dad and I went boogie-boarding and I rode a 5-foot wave.”

“What’s boogie-boarding?” Rossi asked.

You laughed, “it’s like surfing but you don’t stand on the board, you just hold on.”

“Sounds dangerous,” Rossi made a face at your favorite past time.

“We could buy one and try it out,” you smirked.

He held his hand up and brushed you off, “I’m good.”

The food came shortly after that and everyone ate fairly quickly. Once everyone was done, Rossi offered to pay, you said no, but he paid anyway. Everyone filed out of the restaurant and to the cars, “Wait, I want to show you something.” Everyone stopped and looked at you like you were crazy. Henry was quick to follow you to the small dock off the side of the restaurant. 

“Look a fishy,” Henry pointed to the small silver fish swimming in the water.

“That’s a ballyhoo,” Reid started. “The ballyhoo halfbeak or ballyhoo is a baitfish of the halfbeak family. It is similar to the Balao halfbeak in most features. Ballyhoo are frequently used as cut bait and for trolling purposes by saltwater sportsmen. The fish is reported to have caused ciguatera poisoning in humans. Also known as balahu, redtailed balao, and yellowtail ballyhoo, ballyhoo can be seen above the waters skimming the surface to escape from their predators. The appearance is similar to skipping stones on the water.”

“Henry, do you want to get icecream?” JJ said from the end of the dock. Henry went running to his mother after that.

You walked over and put your hand on Reid’s back, “it’s ok.” The team walked back to the cars and filed in. You drove right past the hotel and further up the street. JJ made sure to follow you. There was a little ice cream place up the road. Ironically enough it was shaped like an ice cream cone. You pulled into the parking lot and everyone in your car shuffled out. JJ pulled up right behind you. Henry practically ran to look at the menu. You grabbed a menu and went to sit next to Reid.

“What’re you getting?” he laid his head on your shoulder.

“I think I’m going to get cookie dough,” you laid your head on top of his and moved the menu so he could see ut. “Do you want anything?”

“Medium vanilla cone, please.”

You stood up and gave him a quick kiss, “comin’ right up,” you went up to the counter and started to order. “Can I get a small cookie dough hurricane and a medium vanilla cone?” 

“That’ll be $7.99,” the cashier typed a few things into the cash register.

You grabbed a ten-dollar bill from your wallet and handed it to her. She handed you the change and you put it in the tip jar. She disappeared into the back of the ice cream stall, you stepped off to the side to wait. Within a minute she came back with your ice cream, “thank you.” You grabbed the items from her and made your way back to Reid who was now joined by Morgan and Garcia. “Here you go,” you handed Reid his ice cream cone. Morgan moved next to Garcia so you could sit next to Reid. JJ and Henry were ordering their ice cream now. Rossi sat down across from you with Blake, Hotch, and Will. Beth and Jack were behind JJ in line.

“What are we doing tomorrow?” Rossi asked as he turned to look at you.

“We have two options,” you quickly swallowed the ice cream in your mouth. “We can either stay at the hotel and have sort of like a chill day, or we can go out and do something.”

Everyone looked between themselves before Reid spoke up, “let’s stay in.”

You pulled out your phone and googled ‘high tide st. Pete beach’, “low tide is at 2pm, so if we want to go to the snorkeling, that’s when we’ll want to go.”

“We can go snorkeling?” Garcia’s face lit up. 

“Yeah,” you smiled. “Do you want to go and buy some tomorrow.”

“Of course I do,” she took another bite of her ice cream. 

Everyone finished their ice cream and hopped back into their respective cars. When you got back to the motel, you checked the clock, “Do you want to head down to the beach, it’s almost 8?” you looked at Reid who was closing the door behind him.

“Sure,” he walked to the bedroom and came back with your sunglasses and flip-flops.

“Thank you,” you changed out of your sandals. He grabbed your hand and you two started your walk to the beach. The beach was a little more crowded that night. After about 15 minutes, you saw Rossi and Morgan walking down to meet you guys.

“What have you guys been up to?” Rossi shouted as he neared you and Reid.

“Not much,” Reid shouted back. It took them less than a minute to reach you after that. The four of you walked along the beach together. You and Reid were holding hands, Rossi and Morgan were making fun of you two. Once it got closer to sunset you stopped walking and just stared in the direction of the sun. It set after a few minutes and you four made your way back up the beach. You hung out on the patio for a little before heading inside. By 10, you and Reid were cuddling in bed and watching TV. You fell asleep just as quickly as the night before. 

You woke up around 10. When you finally decided to get out of bed, Reid was still asleep. You grabbed your clothes and changed in the bathroom. Fixing your hair and putting on your makeup. You wrote him a note telling him you were going shopping. You grabbed a banana and ate it quickly before going to find Garcia. You knocked on her door and she opened in within seconds. “Are you ready?”

“Let me grab my purse,” even on vacation she was dressed in her colorful attire. She came back out with a pink purse. “Let’s go.”

The two of you walked to the front entrance of the hotel and to the store. When you got to the Publix, Garcia started grabbing different masks and snorkels from the wall. “Garcia, slow down,” you grabbed some of the items from her hands. “You have to make sure they’re the right sizes.”

She double-checked all the masks she had thrown in the cart and the few she still had to grab. You ended up buying ten masks in total. 8 in adult sizes, 2 in the kid’s size. You grabbed an equal amount of snorkles. You also grabbed a boogie-board from the wall.

Once, you were sure you had everything you took the cart to the check-out. It ended up costing just less than $100. Garcia grabbed the single bag and you grabbed the boogie-board. You started on the walk back to the hotel. When you got there, Reid and Morgan were hanging out on the patio and talking.

“Where have you ladies been?” Morgan got up and gave you a hug.

“We went to buy snorkles,” Garcia set the bag on the table and sat down.

“And a boogie-board,” you grabbed the bag from the table and went to put it in your room. You came back outside and sat down next to Reid.

“Low-tide is at 2?” Reid asked. You nodded in response. “Can we head down around 1?”

“Sure,” Morgan shrugged. 

“Do you guys want lunch?” you stood up and started for your room.

“I didn’t even realize it was that late,” Reid looked at his watch.

“What’re we having?” Morgan shouted.

You opened the fridge, “I have the stuff to make sandwiches,” you shouted back.

“Sounds good,” Morgan added.

You only had ham and cheese, so it looked like everyone was going to have a ham and cheese sandwich. You made four sandwiches, grabbed a bag of chips, and some watermelon, and made your way back to them.

“Bon appetit,” you put the sandwiches in front of them and put down the other things in the middle. 

“Thank you,” Reid gave you a kiss on the cheek.

“So you guys have been together for 364 days,” Garcia took a bite of her sandwich.

You looked at Reid, “I guess it has been that long.” Truthfully, it felt like you had known him your entire life.

“You never told us what you did for your first date,” Morgan interjected.

“Well, we went out for dinner at a really nice restaurant, then we went to get ice cream,” you hadn’t thought about that night for a while. “We drove up to an overlook and we played truth or dare. After a while, we started to slow dance in the dark, and then we watched the stars.”

“That’s so romantic,” Garcia said in a sing-songy voice.

“What can I say?” Reid smiled.

The four of you finished your sandwiches and went to your rooms to change. This time you wore a black bikini. Reid was taking four of the masks and snorkels out of their packaging while you changed. When you were done, you put them all in your beach bag along with a few other essentials.

Morgan and Garcia were standing outside of your room when you left. The walk down to the ocean was the same as usual. Once you got down there you noticed that the waves were big enough for you to boogie-board. Reid, Morgan, and Garcia were setting up camp, but you grabbed the board and ran for the ocean. The water was warm and the waves were bombarding your legs. You shuffled your feet to avoid the stingrays and went far enough to get a good wave. You placed the board in the water and turned to look behind you. That’s when you saw it. A wave was just big enough for you to make it all the way back. Once the wave reached you you hopped on your board and rode it in. It reminded you so much of your childhood. As you rode it in, you could see the fear on Reid’s face, and the awe on Garcia’s.

You stood up, grabbed the board, and walked back up to them, “how’s it going?” you brushed the hair out of your face.

“I wanna try that,” Garcia was practically jumping out of her skin.

You chuckled, “come on.” She started to run into the water and you chased after her. “Shuffle your feet!” you shouted at her. The two of you shuffled out far enough to wait for a wave. “Ok, once the wave gets close enough, put the board on your chest, and start to swim. When you feel the wave hit you, you can stop swimming.”

“Ok,” She smiled.

“See that wave right there,” you pointed to a wave approaching you. “That’s the one.” You waited for a minute before she needed to swim. “Go now,” she followed your instruction and started to paddle the board. When she was good, you ducked under the water to avoid getting too knocked around. When you came back up, Garcia was celebrating on the beach and Reid was nervously looking at the ocean. You swam back to shore and walked out to meet him, “What’s going on?” 

“You scared me,” He held his chest like he was having a heart attack.

“Sorry,” you shrugged. “Do you want to go snorkeling now?”

“Yeah,” he looked at Morgan and Garcia who were talking by your stuff. “Let me get them.” He walked over to them and grabbed the masks and snorkles. He talked to them for a second before they all started to walk back toward you. 

“Are you guys ready?” you asked as Reid handed out masks. They all nodded and put on their masks.

While you were snorkeling, you found a few really pretty shells. You couldn’t keep them because they were still alive but they were nice to look at. Garcia thought that she saw a shark, but it was just a fish. After everyone was done, you all walked back up to the hotel and changed. You went to the store and grabbed some things to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. When you came back everyone was gathered on the patio. You got everything cooked and ready to go before 6. You all enjoyed the pasta for a while and then you cleaned up the dishes and rejoined the group.

“Do you remember that one time Strauss called Garcia and she thought it was Morgan?” JJ said through laughter.

“Oh, I want to hear the story for this,” you sat down.

“Well, I had just been fired,” Hotch interjected.

“And Strauss was joining us in the field,” Reid added.

“We had an idea and needed to call Garcia for a list of names,” Morgan gestured to the blonde who was hiding behind her hands.

“I answered the phone thinking it was Morgan and I said ‘Talk dirty to me,’” she slid down in her chair.

“You’re kidding?” you were in shock that Garcia actually said something like that to Strauss. “Are you guys the reason we have to have the sexual harassment seminars twice a year?”

“That we are,” Morgan tried to give Garcia a high-five but she just shot him a death stare.

“Do you guys have any other fun stories?” Beth asked.

“Plenty,” Rossi sighed.

You moved in your chair so your legs could be closer to you, “let’s hear it.”

“The day that we had to deal with Ian Doyle, Reid and I were interrogating a suspect and we decided that the best way to break him was to break his ego,” Rossi explained.

“This is how the interaction went,” Reid sat up straight in his chair. “We have him in the interrogation room, right?”

“So if we puncture his self-image, this hood rat will talk,” Rossi acted out. “And then he said ‘Hey, hey, hey, I ain't no hood rat. You take that back.’ I refuted him with, ‘Well, you look like one. You smell like one. You smell that?’

Reid continued their little skit, he sniffed the air, “hood rat.”

“And he gave us everything we needed to know,” Rossi gave Reid a high-five.

“One time, Garcia, Prentiss and I were at a bar, and Emily walked over with a guy,” JJ started. “She said ‘Ladies, this is Brad a real FBI agent.’” Garcia and I wanted to play along so we fed this guy’s ego. We pretended to not know anything about the FBI.”

“Then JJ asked to see his badge,” Garcia continued. “He said it was classified and then we all took out our badges. He sighed and walked away,” Garcia looked very proud of her and JJ.

“I wanna do that,” you whined. You checked your watch, “it’s almost 8, do you guys want to head down.”

“Sure,” Rossi was the first one to stand up, but everyone followed him soon after. 

You quickly went into your room to grab a few things before meeting up with everyone outside. “You ready?” you grabbed Reid’s hand.

“I’m going to walk down with Morgan,” he let go of your hand. “I love you.” he gave you a quick kiss before walking to Derek.

Henry ran up to you and grabbed your hand, “are you dating uncle Spencer?”

“I am,” you knelt down to look him in the eyes.

“Do you love him?” he still hadn’t let go of your hand.

You smiled at his questions, “I do.”

“That’s good,” he wrapped his tiny arms around your neck.

“Do you want to walk down to the beach with me?” you asked when he let you go.

“Yes,” he grabbed your hand tighter.

You stood up and started to catch up with a few of the others. Morgan and Reid were walking many feet behind you. It didn’t do you any good worrying about whatever they were talking about, so you refocused your attention on Henry. He was a really cute kid. You helped him look for shells as you walked down to the water. He would point at one, you would pick it up and put it in your pocket. Once you reached the water, you were sure he would want to go with his parents but he never let go of your hand. You walked for about ten minutes down the beach and then turned around to head back. When Henry saw his parents he let go of your hand and ran to meet them. JJ picked him up and you finished walking to the group. You took a spot next to Reid to watch the sunset.

“How was your walk with Henry?” Morgan asked

You turned away from Reid to talk to Morgan, “it was really good. My pockets feel ten times heavier.”

“Can I see some of the shells he found?” He gestured to your pocket.

“Yeah,” you grabbed a few of the bigger shells from your shorts. “They were all pretty basic, but a few of them were really pretty.” There was a tap on your shoulder. You turned around to see a man with a camera. Reid was farther down the beach with JJ and Henry. “Can I help you?”

“Would you mind if I took a couple photos of you?” he held his camera up. “I’m doing a storyboard about tourists and their different styles.”

“Sure,” you smiled and followed him a little closer to the water. 

“Can you stand right there?” he pointed to a point on the sand that had you directly in front of the sun.

You did a simple pose, and he started snapping pictures. You looked past him to see someone going to talk to Morgan and Rossi. She looked familiar but you could only see her back. They were only a few feet away. When she turned around and stood next to the camera, that’s when you realized. “Emily?” you had the biggest smile on your face. Seeing your old teammate again, in paradise of all places. Although this did beg the question, what is she doing here?

“Turn around,” she was smiling from ear to ear.

You hesitantly turned around, partially expecting to be murdered. Instead, you saw Spencer, down on one knee holding a black box, “holy shit,” you whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

“Y/N, I have known you for just over a year and it took me five seconds to fall in love with you,” you could hear his voice breaking and you were in tears. “I love you and it’s been that way for a month or two. You are the kindest woman I have ever met and you mean the world to me. Y/N Y/L/N, will you marry me?”

“Of course,” you sobbed and ran to give him a hug.

He wrapped his arms around you and you nestled your head into his shoulder still sobbing, “I love you,” he whispered. He let you go and placed the gorgeous ring on your finger. You took his face in your hands and kissed him with such passion, time seemed to stop. When you finally let go, you heard the applause and cheers from the crowd that had formed. 

“Way to go, pretty boy,” Morgan came and pat him on the back, “but actually, congratulations.” he gave you a hug. You were still in tear so you apologized for getting mascara on his shirt. The rest of the team came and expressed their happiness with your engagement. It seemed like Henry was the most excited when he came to give you a big hug. There were also hugs for Emily who no one had seen in months. 

The rest of the night was a little party. Rossi bought some champagne for you to celebrate with. Everyone made toasts to you and Reid’s relationship. The party didn’t end for a while. You were too caught up in all the love to realize how tired you were. 

For the rest of the vacation, you wouldn’t stop looking at your ring and asking Reid questions about how he had set it up. For the past year, every obstacle life threw at you and Reid led you to the happiest moment of your life. You finally knew just how much Ried loved you, and how much you loved him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it says that this is 20/21, this is the FINAL chapter for part 1. The next "chapter" is a letter I wrote to you guys, please read it if you have the time xx  
> *PART 2 HAS BEEN STARTED*


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